Code Reploid, Lelouch of the Rebellion X1
by HyperionGM
Summary: Time works in mysterious ways, for every thing that changes, it seems like ten more things stay the same. Or so we believe. A single linked event in two separate worlds intertwines them in ways one would consider impossible, and events diverge from the script. In a world of humans living alongside sapient machines, can Lelouch bring about his planned rebellion?
1. Stage 1: A Demon is Born

**AN: So as a backdrop to where this came from, I read a dead crossover fic about Lelouch acquiring a Biometal based on C.C. (Whether she was originally a reploid or human in _that_ fic's timeline will never be made clear since the second chapter of it was the last thing that author ever posted on this site, and the publishing date was 4 years ago...)**

 **(On that note, RIP my stories I have no idea what to do with. I apologize to everyone who likes them but goddamn do I suck at writing things on the fly. Like, a lot.)**

 **And then I began to wonder, Reploids are practically immortal until ZX right…?**

 **So basically, I began to work under the premise of the Code R project finding a Final Generation Robot Master (AKA a counterpart to Mega Man X and Zero) C.C. or C2 here for simplicity's sake and begin to experiment on her in hopes of creating their own Reploid super soldier army for Britannia, this being Clovis he naturally assumes that if word gets out he'll be investigated for treason, that or his more ambitious siblings will attempt to murder him and seize the Reploid for their own ends.**

 **Essentially, this means the events of Episode 1 play out similarly, with Lelouch gaining not only Geass (Yeah, not including the Power of the King in some form is pretty limiting for Code Geass as it is key to many if not most of Lelouch's successes and feats, blame the writers for him becoming over-reliant on it.) but a _very powerful_ Reploid.**

 **Of course, that means the Maverick Hunters and Repliforce (In this timeline a Britannian special corps made up _entirely_ of Reploids, with 'General' having authority on par with the Knights of the Round.) get involved as naturally C2 will be labeled a Maverick for attacking Britannian military and government assets on Zero's orders.**

 **But now, I don't want to explain _too_ much.**

 **And as for going from 20XX to 2017 ATB.… Let's just say it involves Time Man and Flash Man, and Bass being Bass.**

 **We're also going by the initial Code Geass calendar as well, so the 55 year difference is a go.**

 **Oh and one last note, if you're one of the few people who wants a theme song for it, yeah I'm not writing one up, takes too long and it's just chapter padding to me.**

 **Just imagine COLORS or Be Somewhere from Rockman EXE Stream if you really want one.**

 **Also yes, I am _finally_ making my ANs more distinct from the chapters.**

KEY (For here on out so I don't get bitched at about what X special text thing means.)

" "- Speaking normally (obvious)

 _"Italics"-_ Thoughts, including thought based communication (READ: Code). (also obvious).

"With **bold** or _italics_ mixed in"-Emphasis on certain words.

 _"Italics with_ normal text _and_ _**bold**_ _mixed in_ _"_ \- Emphasis on certain words in thoughts.

="Text"=-Low level voice modulation, typically Zero's mask.

 **="With bold text"=-** Character with heavy voice modulation.

"ALLCAPS"-Yelling/screaming.

" **ALLCAPS WITH BOLD** "-Violently enraged or terrified screaming.

["Text"]-Speakers/Radio Communications.

[TEXT]-Computer readouts/networked communications. (If I ever actually use this.)

 **Flames will be used to roast Headcrabs.**

"Text with underline"-Geass Command.

* * *

 **20XX AD.**

 **Geoworks International Robotics Labs, The Philippines. Unknown hours.**

Doctor Noele Lalinde brought up another scenario that her latest creation was working on and sighed as she sipped her coffee and crosschecked the latest data from the scenarios that Dr. Light was working on for his own new generation Robot Master. "Everything seems to be going fine…" She stood up and headed down the hallway after checking in on their progress in a sim of an old situation involving Time Man and Flash Man suffering from a case of faulty weapon chip limiters, she shouldn't really have been worried at the time it occurred but…

Thomas and Albert were messing with something beyond human comprehension when those two were built, out of all the petitions to have Robot Masters scrapped, those two had been constantly at the top alongside Gravity Man and Galaxy Man as some felt that they could potentially destroy the _planet_ if their powers ever went out of control.

But since they'd been decommissioned and stored in the Robotics Museum alongside the other retired Robot Masters it was a moot point.

She noted that her creation had gunned both Robot Masters down while avoiding the destruction of their I.C. chips after only a moment's contemplation, an excellent outcome for the sim given that Megaman performed the same feat after agonizing about it for several minutes and only pulling the trigger after both Robot Masters yelled at him to just shoot them. Sometimes the 'hard' option was the only good one after all...

Glancing back at the stasis pod containing her finest work, one that would aid Light's in the future she hoped, Noele felt pride well up in her.

Her creation would be a pragmatic counterpart to X, to match his naivety with a more measured sense of how the world actually worked. Although she hoped X would in turn temper that with his idealism lest her final daughter become too cynical.

"We're not as young as we used to be... Are we Thomas..." She mumbled to herself. "Maybe Mikhail was right about us... We refer to our machines as our children to fill a hole left in our hearts... Still... I wouldn't trade them for anything..." She sighed as she thought about the future.

 _"Someday mankind will be ready for truly sapient machines, free of Asimov's laws... But not now... All these incidents over the years with robotics have people scared witless by thinking machines regardless off how well the robot masters help society. In the future hopefully this won't be the case... But I sincerely doubt I'll live long enough to ever see such a day."_

Alarms suddenly started blaring as Quake Woman's terrified face appeared on a monitor.

"Tempo, what's wrong!?" Noele asked quickly. She'd never seen her first 'daughter' this afraid before.

["It's Bass! He broke into the museum and stole Time Man's and Flash Man's Special Weapon chips! He's facing down Mega Man now in the Chronos Institute, talking some nonsense about showing Wily he didn't need to build a new Robot!"]

That caught her attention. Nobody had seen Bass since Wily went dark _years ago_.

"Impossible!" Noele shot out of her chair. "He may be based on Mega Man but he shouldn't be able to integrate other Robot Master's abilities!"

["Proto Man just showed up to help and... Rock is trying to copy Bass's weapon chips!"]

["ROCK NO! THEY'RE UNSTAB-"] Proto Man shouted in the background before _something_ happened.

The transmission then cut out as the uncontrolled temporal energies of _four_ time-based robot master powers, in addition to those from experimental time machine technology located at the institute, ripped into the local space time continuity around the Earth.

Noele didn't even have the time to _think_ as brightness overtook her lab.

* * *

 **August 10, 2010 ATB.**

 ** _Midway_ -class Supercarrier HIMS _Franklin D. Roosevelt_. West Pacific. H-Hour+7**

Commodore John "Jimmy" Thach watched a pair of F-11 Sea Vixens roar into the sky from the EMALS catapults, the stealthy jets screaming into the air as a pair of more conventional A4 Barracuda IIs followed soon after. _Rosie's_ sister ships, _Midway_ , and _Coral Sea_ , were visible in the haze to both port and starboard, as were the escorting BBGs, BBVGs, CAGs, CLGs, CGs, FFGs and DDGs, plus the accompanying support vessels, including command ships, supply and replenishment vessels, and amphibious assault transports and LHDs.

A full scale invasion fleet like this hadn't been seen since the First Pacific War.

A volley of land attack missiles roared out from the VLS cells of the Destroyers, Battleships and Cruisers before swinging about and screaming towards Japan, softening up the defense positions at range before the landing force would approach the shore and begin gunfire bombardment.

The Japanese Naval Forces had either fled outright to Australia or been sunk by Britannia as far as he knew, with a handful of ships boarded and captured by the Special Naval Service's SEALs and the Imperial Marine Corps, so their entire coastline was now at the mercy of the Imperial Britannian Navy and Naval Air Service.

Their Air Forces had been similarly devastated, and had either been shot down or forced to RTB, whereupon their airfields were hit by naval strikes and strategic bombers flying from the Homeland and Areas 9, 12 and 15. Now Japan proper was vulnerable, protected from invasion only by SAMs, artillery, AAA and AShMs, while arranged in a formidable net, they too had been at the mercy of defense suppression strikes, and massive gaps existed as a result of this and lack of resources in the face of a total encirclement of the entire nation.

"Are the amphibious groups and their special complements ready?" He asked a subordinate as the enhanced carrier strike group continued alongside the special amphibious taskforce.

"Affirmative sir!" One of the bridge crew reported.

He nodded at the man and watched as a sizable number of Japanese coastal launched anti-ship missiles roared in on the radar screen, only to be intercepted by the fleet's SAMs, CIWS, and cannon-fire, with many of the rest missing horribly.

"Once they depart we'll be continuing our harassment raids up and down the coastline."

"The composite amphibious assault group led by the _Warspite_ is detaching to begin their landings." Someone else reported as the Amphibious group off in the distance began to peel away,

Thach nodded as he watched another pair of Sea Vixens line up on the catapults. "Welp, time for the jarheads to earn their pay." Someone said as Thach turned to look at the IFF signals of the Amphibious group on the TACNET as they closed with the Japanese coastline.

"You'd think that the Europeans, Soviets and Chinese would be more concerned about this much Sakuradite falling into Britannia's hands..." Thach mused softly.

"Sir?"

"Just thinking aloud son. The 70% of all reserves figure is probably just Japanese propaganda if intel is correct anyways, it likely only represents the most _accessible_ Sakuradite deposits, prior to the invasion buildup our point of pride was that Britannia has control of far larger veins throughout the Americas but they're trapped inside remote areas that are difficult or impossible to mine with current methods."

The sailor nodded and returned to his console as Thach gazed out the bridge windows as the latest group of fighters took off.

 _"I question the point of a full scale invasion when a punitive military action could've accomplished the same result for a much lower cost, both financially and in lives... Although, I did basically admit that just because we have a large supply of Sakuradite doesn't mean we can readily use it... But is all of this actually worth that when we could simply install a pro-Britannian puppet state?"_ The man wondered as one of the airborne AWACs planes came in for a landing to refuel.

* * *

 ** _The date was August 10 of the year 2010 of the Imperial Calendar. The Holy Britannian Empire had just declared war on the Nation of Japan. The Far East island nation had long clung to its neutrality in the face of increasing political pressure on four fronts.  
_**

 ** _The official reason for the attack was to secure access to the nation's Sakuradite stockpiles, an invaluable room temperature superconductor, which were said to be the largest and most accessible on the planet, and to avenge the supposed abuse of two young Britannian royals, the children of the deceased Empress Marianne._**

 ** _The former was more widely reported globally as access to the Sakuradite supply was a hotly disputed issue politically, with Britannia's actions earning it the ire of the EU, Chinese Federation, Middle Eastern Federation, and the Soviet Union, all of which enacted embargoes on Britannian companies prior to the invasion._**

 ** _These nations however stood idly by as Japan burned, caught up in either their indifference or circumstances that prevented decisive action._**

 ** _The Japanese Defense Forces fought bravely but after their Maritime and Air Forces were defeated, the Ground Forces found themselves at the mercy of Britannia's newest weapons._**

 ** _The Humanoid Manned Armored Knight, or Knightmare Frame. An advanced mobile weapon class designed for high mobility warfare in support of traditional armored and mechanized formations._**

 ** _And the Replicant Android unit, or Reploid. An entire class of self-aware, sapient humanoid automatons capable of not only rationalization and emotion but that were also unchained by any of the laws of robotics, alongside their far less autonomous and intelligent cousins, the Mechaniloids._**

 ** _The Japanese Military was unprepared for the rapid and massed deep strike deployments and their ground forces were left isolated from eachother and in often indefensible locations, many formations being wiped out or forced to scatter into the wilderness as a result. With the deciding battles won by Britannia's Glasgow and Liverpool Knightmare Frames working in concert with airpower, infantry, and traditional armor._**

 ** _A few isolated Japanese units attempted to replicate the infamous banzai charges of the First Pacific War, only to be met with the superior physical strength of Reploid infantry once the survivors reached Britannian lines and were cut to pieces._**

 ** _Aside from a single defeat, Britannia utterly crushed the Japanese Military once they landed on the Home Islands._**

 ** _With their Prime Minister dead, their military shattered, and their government scattered to the winds following the death of Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi, Japan took the only recourse it had left._**

 ** _It surrendered, their people stripped of their lands, pride, freedom, rights and their national identity._**

 ** _Area 11 had been established as dominion of Britannia, the defeated Japanese now labeled as Elevens and made second-class citizens, at best, in their own homeland. And their once proud nation now a mere cog in the increasing global dominion of Britannia._**

 ** _The shock-waves of the war would resonate across the world, Worker Frames, Mechaniloids and Reploids weren't just for civil purposes anymore, they could be directed towards warfare and killing in ways people had once scoffed at as impractical._**

 ** _As a result, the number of militarized Reploids and Mechaniloids increased a thousandfold, as did the number of Knightmare Frame units._**

 _ **And by extension, so too did the mandate of the Maverick Hunters, a multinational organization based out of Abel City, Australia, and devoted to hunting down Reploid criminals of any type. The Hunters became increasingly militarized in response to the number of combat grade Maverick outbreaks. Simultaneously new innovations in combat Reploids became increasingly difficult to achieve, as the technology behind the original Reploid template, a robot known only as X, was far more advanced than most human minds could comprehend, and the spread of technology deliberately stifled by elements of the Australian government to prevent an arms race that could lead to ever more disastrous Maverick incidents. As concepts such as high-output solar reactors, elemental attributes, full self-powered flight, and energy weapons were commonplace among higher-end combat Reploid units that were manufactured either for the Hunters or on commission for various nations.**_

 ** _However all of these might innovations pale in comparison to a single promise made during the invasion, which would come to haunt the Earth in seven years time._**

 _"I swear… I swear Suzaku so help me… I will one day… OBLITERATE BRITANNIA!"_

 ** _But such a promise could not become reality without great power backing it up..._**

* * *

 **February** **21, 2013 ATB.**

 **Code R dig site RM-10, Area 12. 2300 Hours local time.**

General Bartley Asprius frowned as his men continued to excavate the area around an old set of ruins from some old civilization like those discovered by Dr. Cain in the homeland several years ago while looking for plant fossils of all things.

"Hurry up, we're on a schedule!" He ordered as the excavation personnel, MR-1 series Worker Frames and Reploids continued digging up the site, several Glasgows, Liverpools and APCs standing guard with infantrymen and Royal Guard combat Reploids, floodlights illuminating the surrounding jungle and the dig site itself as heavy equipment and generators hummed in the background.

Much like the Reploids, the Knightmare Frames that Britannia was so proud of had come so far in such a short amount of time, the '1st Generation' units having been little more than escape modules for combat vehicles with legs added on to enable the crew to continue withdrawing from the battlefield in relative security.

Over time people wondered what would happen if that concept became an entirely new class of fighting vehicle, and thus the Knightmare Frame was born.

The Soviets had a far more accurate designation for Knightmares if Bartley was to be entirely honest, Индивидуальный боевой машина пехоты, which translated literally to Individual Infantry Fighting Vehicle, or IBMP as the Soviet Knightmares were commonly called.

One of the diggers stopped and waved up at him, distracting Bartley from his mental tirade on Knightmares thankfully enough. "General! We've found something!"

Bartley glanced down at them before heading down a lift to the bottom of the dig site with a trio of guards and a junior officer.

"What is it…?"

"It seems like a blast door sir." The Digger Reploid unit responded as a C-15 Mettaur prodded at the door with their foot, the metal barely making a sound due to its thickness.

"That much is obvious… In your opinion what do you think it'll take to crack it open without damaging what's inside?" Bartley asked.

The Reploid tapped the side of his pickaxe against his hardhat, red eyes glowing before he spoke up again. "I ain't a metalworker or demolitions unit but we could probably cut it open with a shipbreaking mechaniloid."

"Out of the question, too many people would question the transfer of such a unit to this wilderness for an Archaeological dig, we're lucky we got away with the guard detail because Area 12 is still subject to terrorist attacks on isolated convoys." Bartley replied, cutting off that idea.

"Then our best bet is to blow it open with successive low yield breaching charges to reduce the structural integrity in a careful manner, the facility has some kind of reactor that's sending most of its remaining output to whatever is on the other side, if it's _that_ important then you probably don't wanna break it." The Reploid responded, rubbing the chin of their angular vocoder unit.

Bartley nodded. "Very well then. Bring down the charges and have a Mettaur monitor it so we don't overdo the blasting."

Bartley returned to the lift as the crews cleared out and the charges emplaced by the Royal Guardsmen, once everything was clear but the lone Mettaur that had ducked down under its helmetlike shell, the first set of charges were detonated, the shock and noise of the blast sending nearby groups of birds scrambling for the sky, squawking loudly.

"The Mettaur is reporting that the charges have caused the door to collapse." A Guardsman reported from a nearby console as Bartley nodded and headed back to the lift, the Mettaur waddling away down below, completely unscathed despite its close proximity to the blasts.

Once at the bottom he marched into the room, spotting various degraded computer consoles and repair robots that littered the floor like pebbles, having slowly been worn down over centuries of constant maintenance work. "How long as all of this been down here…?" He stepped further into the room and headed over to a cryo-tube-like module and wiped off the collected dust on the glass window, a grin breaking out onto his face as he turned to look at the Junior Officer behind him.

"Contact Prince Clovis and the research team, we've found a jackpot." The General stated as he turned and stared down at the female form seemingly sleeping inside the stasis chamber.

"A Reploid just like the unit Doctor Cain found… With this, we can create an invincible army for Britannia." He said softly as several technicians began working on disconnecting the stasis chamber from its mountings.

Wiping off a panel on the side he spotted a designation, partially faded due to time and wear next to a stylized logo of a C connected to a two and bordered on the top and bottom by two lines. _LM -C M g Wo a C2._

"Hmm, a type designation? Possibly based on primary armament or the designed purpose, impossible to read anyways but we have the designation at least... C2..." Bartley mused as the machinery was hauled out before him.

He glanced around the empty room again, looking through the banks of inoperable computers before turning and leaving.

There was nothing left for them to uncover, nothing that they were still able to anyways…

Or so they thought.

* * *

 **August 15, 2017 ATB.**

 **Babel Tower district, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11. 0830 Hours local time.**

Lelouch and Rivalz stepped out of Babel Tower after having finished their latest chess match and glanced up at a large television screen mounted to a nearby building, the chatter of nearby Humans and Reploids audible around them, some of the crowd murmuring about Mavericks or Elevens. The image of a pair of linked skyscrapers with smoke pouring out from the upper floors of the right hand building being replaced by the Imperial Flag as a tone indicated a government announcement from the viceroy was to begin.

["We apologize for the delay, now His Royal Highness Prince Clovis la Britannia, Third Prince of Britannia and Viceroy of Area 11, will address the Area."] The female voice stated.

The screen transitioned to a live broadcast of Area 11's viceroy in his press hall. Lelouch narrowing his eyes at the sight of his elder brother, Rivalz too distracted to notice the subtle change in mood of his friend.

["To all my Imperial subjects including of course the many cooperative Elevens and Honorary Britannians who choose to serve the Holy Empire of Britannia! Do you not see my pain? My heart has been ripped from my chest only to be torn asunder before me!"] Clovis announced as Lelouch resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the dramatics, his brother was putting on an act for the cameras and Lelouch sincerely doubted he actually cared.

A nearby Reploid with red armor snorted and muttered something under his breath, his blue armored compatriot hushing him, Lelouch's eyes widened slightly as he realized both of the Ride Chaser motorcycles bore markings of the Maverick Hunters' Elite 17th autonomous unit, one of around twenty mobile detachments of the Maverick Hunters that were shuffled around to hotspots worldwide as needed.

" _Now, what are_ they _doing here… I know the unit is currently on rotation to Area 11 but how do_ I _run into two of their members here of all places?_ " Lelouch thought.

On screen, Clovis continued his performance. ["The shattered remnants are now only filled with rage and sadness! However, as ruler of Area 11, I will not tolerate terrorism of any kind! Because the battle we fight is a righteous one! A virtuous battle to protect the well-being of one and all! Now then everyone, I would like you to join me in observance of the eight who died for justice in the line of duty."]

An imperceptible frown crossed Lelouch's face. _"If only those eight hadn't died for a corrupt nation that thrived on the conquest and subjugation of its lessers and threw those it deemed waste to the wolves."_ He thought darkly.

["Now, a moment of silence please."] The female announcer requested as Lelouch paid for Rivalz's parking fee at the meter, uncaring of the propaganda show being displayed to the public.

"Well aren't you gonna join in?" Rivalz asked as the gate in front of his motorcycle's parking slot descended into the pavement.

"Aren't you?" Lelouch responded.

Rivalz chuckled lightly and leaned on his bike. "It's sort of embarrassing." He admitted.

Lelouch plucked the receipt ticket out of the meter. "And I agree with you. Besides, spilling tears over those people won't bring them back to life, now will it?" He stated as he checked to ensure the amount of the fee was correct.

Rivalz put his goggles on and whistled. "Dang… That's dark buddy."

Lelouch stared at the print on the ticket. "It's all about self-satisfaction." He said coolly as he turned turned to look at the screen which again featured Clovis's face on it. "It doesn't matter how hard you try… You can't do it, there's no way you can change the world."

* * *

 **August 15, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The Cameras and sound recording equipment shut off and retracted on their arms as Prince Clovis stepped down from the podium, several mechaniloids scrambling about to their idle positions, chattering amongst themselves about the on-air edits they'd make to make the Prince look more visually appealing.

One of the noblewomen spoke up. "You were magnificent your highness. One would never guess that you were attending a party just before doing that." She purred.

"After all, the Viceroy is the marquee actor of Area 11, I need to change costumes quickly." Clovis replied as his attendants took his Imperial cloak and epaulettes off.

"My, you're so self-confident." The woman appraised as Clovis adjusted his cravat.

"It's all in the performance, since the media wanted a charismatic prince, I give them one." Clovis said as he looked over at the media representatives standing along the wall.

A rather heavyset man in a brown business suit spoke up in response. "Untrue, Prince Clovis, our key purpose in life is to assist your reign in any way we can." The man stated as Diethard Ried glanced over from where he was reading the press release book, his contempt for his toadying media colleagues barely disguised by a thin veneer of indifference.

"His reign is a pathetic sham…" Diethard mumbled as Bartley marched past him in full uniform.

"You… Your highness!" Bartley announced as a confused Diethard watched him rush by.

"Hmm… A General?" He murmured to himself.

"Egad how boorish of you."

"I beg your pardon your highness… My lord…" Bartley sounded out of breath to Diethard as if something major had just happened.

The Hi-TV representative closed his press book and stood straight up, assuming it was something that required a statement by him for the military. "Not another appearance for him, hope it's not as dreary."

"BARTLEY YOU IMBECILE!" Clovis hissed rather loudly from behind as he began to walk out, catching Diethard's attention.

General Bartley lowered his voice and continued. "The police and the Maverick Hunters were informed it was medical equipment, that's all. If we scramble the army there'll be a record-"

Clovis cut him off. "Deploy the Royal Guard. The Purist Faction and the local Foreign Legion unit as well!" He ordered, surprising Diethard with his sudden display of decisive leadership.

 _"This should be interesting..."_ He thought, if the normally indifferent Prince Clovis was actually this riled up it must be something big.

* * *

Alarms blared in the garrison level of the Palace, KMFs loading up ammo, energy fillers, and their pilots.

["Alert one, alert one. Fourth, Seventh and Eighth rapid reaction companies as well as the Thirty-First air assault team, immediate scramble!"] A controller announced over the hangar PA system.

Jerimiah Gottwald remained even faced as his Sutherland powered up, a pair of human model Reploid maintenance personnel watched his, Kewell Soresei's and Viletta Nu's frames be moved for loading onto rapid deployment VTOLs.

["Special division nine, standby for deployment."] Another announcement declared as more troops rushed about.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement Highway, Area 11.**

Rivalz and Lelouch passed under a train bridge, a passenger train rumbling overhead.

"That first move you made."

"Hmm?" Lelouch looked up slightly from his book.

"Why'd you move the king?"

"If the king doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?" Lelouch posited to him.

"What's with that?" Rivalz asked as he glanced briefly at Lelouch.

"With what?" Lelouch responded without looking up from his book.

"Do you fantasize about running a major corporation? Or maybe commanding an army?" His friend asked him.

"No way, ambitions like that will ruin your life." Lelouch replied as a blaring truck horn drowned out the tail end of his statement, looking back he spotted a massive semi-truck, the kind optimized to carry massive loads like worker frames or medium type Mechaniloids, rumbling up right behind them at high speed.

Rivalz squawked in alarm. " **WE'RE GONNA DIE!** " He screamed as he hit the gas, Lelouch ducking his head to avoid suffering from whiplash.

"Rivalz, cool it before you get us both killed!" He shouted to no effect.

* * *

"You idiot! Watch where you're going!" Nagata shouted in anger before swerving the Truck to avoid running over the motorbike and giving the Settlement police an excuse to start trying to gun them down.

"Nagata wait! You're oversteering!" Kallen exclaimed as the truck headed down an offramp and into a construction zone, idle worker Reploids, human construction workers and Mechaniloids scattering before the vehicle to avoid being crushed as the vehicle turned and skidded before halting itself on the sides of an opening for an internal parking lot, a cloud of dust spreading as the workers stared dumbfounded.

* * *

Inside the truck's trailer, a signal pulsed out of a damaged container.

* * *

Rivalz stopped the bike and as he and Lelouch stared at the wreck from the side of the highway. "Ehh… Was that our fault…?" He asked.

"I don't think so." Lelouch responded calmly, as if his life hadn't just been in danger from either Rivalz panicking or a massive truck suddenly tailgating them at high speed. Lelouch's phone promptly vibrated softly, he pulled it out but saw no caller. "Huh…?" He murmured as two motorbikes rolled up behind them, the same Reploids from earlier stopping to inspect the wreck.

"You think this is the work of Mavericks X?" The Red One asked.

"Hard to say Zero… The police report said the terrorists were human… But I'm getting a weird signal from that truck…" X replied as he glanced at the wreck site.

"Yeah so am I… What's going on..." Zero whispered.

* * *

Above the city a police observation VTOL's camera pods zoomed in on the wreck. "Control, the target has crashed into the VO building construction site." The observer in the front seat reported.

["The Military will take over from here, General Bartley's command. Alert the foreman to vacate the site."] The police controller responded as the pilot and the observer glanced at eachother, the former mouthing 'him?' at his partner who simply shrugged and activated his transmitter again.

"Roger that Control, we're switching to local construction radio channels now." The Observer said as before switching over to the local channel for the contractor working on the VO building. "Attention, this is the Tokyo Concession Police Force, Evacuate the premises discreetly and at once, military forces will handle the wreck."

* * *

Bartley walked through the hall of the Viceroy's Palace thinking about his situation. _"We have to retrieve it at all costs… That thing… In the wrong hands…"_

He shivered as he remembered the testing results.

* * *

Lelouch's phone continued vibrating as he stepped away from Rivalz's bike and took his helmet off, the vibration growing more intense when he pointed it at the truck. "What the…?" He muttered.

"Oh man this sucks. Looks like the power line on the bike finally gave out." Rivalz said as he looked at the vehicle's engine after failing to start it back up.

Lelouch looked down at his phone and then at the truck as the screen flashed green and yellow. "Yeah… Hey, Rivalz come check this out…" Lelouch said before hearing other people talking as a crowd of humans and Reploids began to form on the pedestrian pathways and balconies below the highway.

Lelouch looked back at the truck, the others were only talking idly and taking pictures or checking their phones as they too had technical issues, not one even bothering to call for emergency services as they rubber-necked like morons. "Hmph… All those idiots…" He dumped his helmet inside the side car's seat before running down the road and to the ramp that led to the site, noting the workers, human and Reploid alike, had cleared out alongside the Mechaniloids for some reason, leaving him confused given that they should've at least tried to help.

"Lelouch wait!" Rivalz shouted to no avail, catching X's and Zero's attention.

"Ashford Academy students…?" X whispered to Zero, who shrugged as he and X waited for further instructions, before the blue Reploid moved to dismount from his bike.

"Hold up X, this isn't our jurisdiction." Zero said, putting a hand on his partner's shoulderplate.

"But..."

"If they're conscious, a Maverick Hunter walking towards them might cause them to pull something stupid." Zero stated wisely.

* * *

Inside the truck, Kallen groaned as she began to stir.

* * *

The crowd chattered endlessly amongst themselves as Lelouch ran up to the vehicle and tried to get to the cab. "Hey are you alright!?" He shouted as he tried to squeeze past the wreckage, noting the truck was remarkably intact, as he looked around and spotted a ladder Lelouch realized there was probably an entry hatch or two atop the vehicle.

X and Zero briefly watched Rivalz grouse and grumble as he walked his bike down the road, before looking back at the truck, both Maverick Hunters staying out of the situation unless Human or Reploid life was directly threatened as per the Maverick Hunters' ROE, or a Maverick got involved, whichever came first.

* * *

Nagata groaned as he began to stir as well, Kallen having deflated the airbags. "Nagata? Nagata!?" Kallen asked as the man next to her began to wake up.

* * *

Lelouch peered over the roof of the truck towards the cab, unaware that someone was watching him from a level above him in the VO tower. "Can you hear me?! Are you okay in there!?" He shouted.

His phone buzzed again as it somehow tugged towards the vehicle's roof, indecipherable combinations of characters crossing its screen.

And then a voice echoed in his mind. _"Hmm… So you're the one...-"_

"Huh… But where…?" He asked, not noticing a blond haired figure retreating into the shadows of the construction site. He looked down into the open roof hatch of the vehicle, the unsecured entry point having flung open in the crash. "Is anyone in there!?" He shouted, getting no response.

* * *

Now wide awake, Nagata shifted the vehicle's gears and began to press down on the gas pedal, sending Lelouch tumbling into the vehicle. "Wait! Stop! I've fallen in!" He yelled futilely before being tossed against a cylinder shaped container of some kind as the truck began to drive down the site road, X and Zero frowning as they watched.

"Now it's a hostage situation…" X muttered, the Reploid clenching his fist.

"Kid probably doesn't know…" Zero replied calmly, putting a hand on his partner's shoulder armor and gestured at the cab with a thumb. "Besides, I doubt _they_ realize he's there…" He continued as four Royal Guard AV-1 Cobra VTOL attack gunships roared overhead with live rocket pods and ATGM racks loaded on their pylons.

X frowned and hopped back on his Ride Chaser, Zero doing the same and both took off after the gunship flight and the truck.

* * *

As it drove forwards the truck rumbled over a foundation for some support beams, sending Lelouch stumbling into the wall of the trailer. "You'd think they'd stick a ladder on the _inside_ of the trailer too." He grumbled as he tried to climb the container in front of him, which had numerous wires hooked up into a generator next to it.

["ATTENTION! STOP THE VEHICLE AND PULL OVER TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!"] A voice announced over a loudspeaker, causing his eyes to widen as the final piece of the puzzle set into place.

He was either inside a stolen government truck or a reinforced terrorist vehicle, he assumed the former.

And that was either the police or the _military_ outside, chasing them down.

Probably military given the familiar thrum of high powered VTOL engines.

 _"Shit."_

* * *

The Cobras formed up above and behind the truck as X and Zero followed on their motorcycles at a safe distance, observing for the moment.

["SURRENDER NOW AND YOU'LL GET THE CHANCE TO DEFEND YOURSELF IN COURT!"] The pilot of the lead gunship announced. ["I REPEAT, STOP AND SURRENDER AT ONCE."] The 20mm linear chainguns of the gunships aimed and then began firing, fragmenting the road just behind the truck before it went under a rail overpass.

["GIVE UP NOW OR WE'LL SHOOT TO KILL!"]

"Now what do we do?! That's the damn army!" Nagata asked Kallen as he kept driving.

"Have you forgotten? That's what I'm here for!" She replied confidently as she took off her disguise's cap.

Nagata sighed at her dramatics. "Alright, just go deal with them."

* * *

The truck rumbled into a tunnel, Lelouch contemplating his choices as he hid behind a power converter, looking for a way up to the roof of the trailer. "If I jump out I have the choice of breaking my neck or getting shot… I can try to call-" He stopped as the door at the front of the trailer opened and a girl he didn't immediately recognize with an admittedly Milly rivaling chest walked through and pulled off her coat, revealing a somewhat more combat suited brown and red outfit underneath. "Can you enter the subway via the Azabu route?" She inquired as she walked to the back.

"Kallen! Let's use it here! Why not?" Nagata suggested.

"Because that would mean a bloodbath!" She retorted heatedly as she climbed up a stepladder at the back of the trailer.

"Ngh… You're right…" Nagata admitted from the cab as Lelouch peeked out.

" _I've seen her before…"_ He thought as she vanished into something at the back of the trailer, the section too dark for him to see whatever it was clearly, although he had an inkling suspicion at the back of his mind.

* * *

["Target is moving from the settlement towards the ghetto."] The lead pursuit gunship reported.

["Copy that, corner them."]

["Roger!"] The pilot responded as his gunner aimed the 20mm chaingun again, this time so that their shots would hit the vehicle directly.

At that moment a slash harken rocketed out of a gap in the rear door of the trailer and punctured the cockpit of the gunship, crushing the pilot whilst simultaneously decapitating the gunner, the vehicle falling out of the sky as it retracted, X and Zero swerving to avoid the hulk as it crashed into the highway and detonated into a fireball. "A slash harken?!" The gunner of one of the surviving Cobras choked out, stunned.

The red Glasgow retracted its harken and closed its factsphere sensor.

"A Knightmare!" The man gasped as the Glasgow leapt out of the vehicle, deploying its landspinners in reverse and keeping pace to guard the rear of the truck.

* * *

As the rear ramp closed behind it, Lelouch slammed his fists against the hatch as he realized his one opening to escape, no matter how suicidal it was, was gone. "Oh crap! These guys are actual terrorists!"

* * *

"You fellas know full well what this badass motherfucker can do!" Kallen shouted over the speakers as the frame weaved around gunfire the moment she saw the flashes of the linear chainguns. X and Zero left dumbfounded before raising their megabuster cannons, their ROE clear now that human lives had been lost, a Catch-22 that would pain X not for the last time in the coming days.

 _"God these guys are idiots, what kind of training are the Area 11 forces doing if this is the quality of the Royal Guard units here?!"_ She thought as she lined up another slash harken shot on a second gunship.

A low power buster shot intercepted the slash harken that would have pierced through a gunship, flinging off to the side.

Kallen swore as she saw the Maverick hunters, eyes widening as she recognized two of the international force's most well known agents.

"Oh fuck…" She murmured as the anchor wires spooled back in, remembering that while they weren't allied with Britannia and were legally neutral, they had a special dispensation to step in and preserve human and Reploid life in low intensity conflicts if they saw fit, and higher end Reploids like X and Zero could dismantle _Knightmare Frames_ and _tanks_ with relative ease, worse still, these two were from Sigma's Elite 17th autonomous force so there were more just like them waiting in the wings. "Better not give them more reasons to come after my ass…"

At that moment a T-4 Knightmare transport VTOL swooped down. ["The rest of you back off. I'll take this guy."] Jeremiah ordered as the gunships and the two Maverick hunters fell back, the latter two having only intervened to save the lives of the remaining gunship crews in the first place, Kallen's slash harkens retracting back into their mounts.

["I can only assume you dug that obsolete _relic_ out of some scrapheap."] Jeremiah taunted as he dropped from the transport VTOL and intercepted a slash harken with one of his own before touching down. ["An over the hill Glasgow is no match for a _Sutherland_!"] He scoffed as his Knightmare spun before gripping the fore handle of its rifle and charging forwards. ["Not to mention a filthy **_Eleven_** who spurns the compassion of our glorious Emperor!"] Jeremiah sneered as he fired an anti-armor grenade, missing the torso of the Glasgow by mere centimeters and blowing off the left forearm.

* * *

Nagata radioed Kallen as her Glasgow shook, the machine seeming to scream as it vibrated while reversing at top speed. ["Kallen! We should both split up! Both of us can't risk being killed! Run for it!"]

["But!"] She radioed back as another Sutherland with purist faction colors marked on its shoulders and factsphere panels climbed up from between an alley using its landspinners and landed on the road in front of the truck, opening fire on the vehicle as Nagata grunted and turned down a restricted road into the subway tunnels under the Ghetto.

Viletta Nu scoffed derisively as she sat inside her frame. "Hmph… Simple minded Eleven…"

* * *

X and Zero watched as one of the Glasgow's slash harkens refused to fire, disabled from the hit to the left arm. "Looks like that one is finished… Should we step in…?" X asked.

"We're dealing with the Purist Faction… They won't be as… Amenable as the regular army would even under these conditions, besides, our mandate doesn't cover saving terrorists." Zero replied as X resigned himself to watching.

["Second hand _junk_!"] Jeremiah roared as the Glasgow swiveled and _ejected_ the remainder of its left arm right into the right arm of the Sutherland before turning and running away in the ensuing cloud of dust and smoke.

[I'll admit, I really like your spirit… However, you're still no match for _me_!"] The Purist Faction's leader shouted as he followed after her in pursuit.

* * *

Lelouch tapped his phone again. _"No cellphone reception, either out of range or too deep… Plus the apps are still locked by whatever is screwing with this thing so I'm literally just making an educated guess… And judging from the darkness and road surface we must be driving along the old subway lines, they're heading for an exit somewhere in the Ghetto, getting out will be dangerous... Still… Okay I've got it… I'm not big on the military but I'll take their protection unless the Maverick Hunters get to me first… So I should keep this on hand just in case…"_ He picked up the radio Kallen left. Only remembering Rivalz as he pocketed the communication device.

 _"Crap, I forgot about him..."_ Rivalz was probably being forced to walk his bike back to Ashford through Traffic. _"Oh well… He'll just have to suck it up, he's more physically fit than I am anyways."_

* * *

 **August 15, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shinjuku Ghetto, Area 11.**

General Bartley frowned as Lloyd Asplund bent over in front of him, as if examining a stain on the General's uniform. "A ha…"

"What are you doing…" Bartley asked, confused by the admittedly eccentric man's behavior.

"Looking at a man who blundered am I right…?" He asked jovially.

"Why you…" Bartley growled as tanks, IFVs, APCs, light, medium and heavy trucks, military Mechaniloids, Ride Armors being driven by Royal Guard Reploids, Sutherlands, Liverpools and the Prince's immense G-1 command center landship passed by them. The rumble of engines, landspinners, and tracks echoing around them as the G-1's suspension groaned and creaked noisily.

"You really screwed this one up… Terrorists came along and stole whatever you and Prince Clovis were secretly working on. Retrieving it is simple but you want to sweep up all their compatriots in addition to avoid further incidents happening. Thus, you let the terrorists go and so you can find their hideout too." He turned to the woman behind him. "Congratulations your reasoning was spot on!"

Cecile Croomy looked mildly embarrassed. "It was nothing… I just thought it was strange…"

Bartley frowned, realizing the Earl of Pudding's game. "Okay that's enough, what is it that the special corps wants out of this?" He demanded angrily.

Lloyd bent over before him again, Bartley not sure if it was some weird bow or if the man was mocking him. "I'm merely saying that I'd like to assist with the cleanup."

"To assist…?" Bartley asked, incredulous.

"Correct. Because it's data I want." Lloyd stated matter-of-factly.

"For Prince Schneizel's new Knightmare project I assume?"

Cecile spoke up again to interrupt, asking the question that was lingering on her mind. "Excuse me, but what in the world have they just stolen anyway?"

Bartley frowned as he remembered Code R's emergency scenario to throw off the rest of the military and government in the event of the subject's theft by outside forces. "Nngh… Chemical weapons… In other words, poison gas."

"Oh dear I'm getting flashbacks from college again." Lloyd mumbled idly to himself.

"What."

* * *

A massive group of VTOLs soared over the ruins that constituted the Shinjuku Ghetto, a mix of UV-1s and CV-47s.

["The terrorists are hiding in the subway system. Your mission is to locate the weapon that they've have stolen. Investigate the old subway system that runs through the Eleven residential district in the Shinjuku Ghetto. Report in the moment you spot them, recovery of the target will be handled by _us_ , the Royal Guard. You people may bear the _honorary_ title of Britannians now but you were _born_ Elevens.] The Captain of Clovis's personal bodyguard detachment of his Royal Guard stated over an all forces broadcast.

The CV-47 VTOLs dispersed squads of unarmed Foreign Legion soldiers in full BC sealed Britannian combat uniforms from their rappelling lines, whom promptly began entering the tunnels, the subjugated Japanese scattering before them, only seeing Britannian soldiers and not their own countrymen and women underneath the uniforms. ["Therefore the _stench_ of these **_monkeys_** ought to be a _familiar_ one. If you want to _earn_ the right to carry arms, then show some results! This is your opportunity to show your loyalty to Britannia!"]

["YES MY LORD!"] They replied in unison over the radio.

Legionnaire number 404 rushed down a subway entrance after one of his squadmates slapped him on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up, the young man nodding back at him as he entered the darkened tunnels.

* * *

Nagata grunted as he drove the truck with his good arm, the other one having been crippled by shrapnel from the second Sutherland's rounds, several slugs had embedded in the back of the armored truck cab, only failing to puncture through into the trailer due to the use of some turret armor plate taken from a pre-war Type-50 MBT.

He was losing blood quickly and with his vision blurring he was unable to see a crater in the tracks.

The vehicle rumbled right into the pit, the cab tilting down before ramming into the other side of the dip, its drive wheels entrapped by debris as it slammed forward, then back and finally settled.

* * *

In the trailer, Lelouch stood up again after being joled by the crash. "An accident, or…?"

* * *

Outside, an Honorary Britannian soldier turned his head towards the noise of the crash as the NVS sensors on his helmet active scanned across multiple spectrums, picking out every detail on the truck and trailer

* * *

The semi's drive wheels spun uselessly in the ditch. Nagata grunting. "Nngh… The tires are stuck…"

* * *

A spark emitted from the cables feeding from the generator to the container as the shock of the second impact caused the connection to loosen and disconnecting the power supply, forcing the capsule to begin counting down until subject release.

* * *

In the cab, Nagata weakly activated a locator beacon as he let up on the gas, the wheels slowing to a halt as the engine's RPMs slowed down. "Please Ohgi… Find me…" He rasped as he slumped onto his side.

* * *

Back in the trailer Lelouch scurried off to the side as the left-hand loading doors on the trailer slid open after a malfunction in the system's wiring forced them to open, unaware he was far from alone in the tunnels as the legionnaire tapped the beacon on his chestplate upon visually confirming the container was inside the truck.

* * *

["404 has sighted the target."] Someone reported on the Britannian radio networks.

["Roger, recall the Foreign Legion and prepare for recovery!"] The Guard Captain ordered as his VTOL began to move towards the closest entrance, the CV-3 beginning to descend towards the ground.

* * *

As the factgoggles did a sensor sweep over the truck, they picked up Lelouch kneeling next to the container, the young soldier gasping, unaware that the person he was looking at was in no way associated with the terrorist group. Determined to prevent the worst terror attack in Area 11's history, he rushed forwards.

"Now… I can use this chance to climb up." Lelouch murmured to himself as he looked for a good purchase on the side of the cylinder-like canister. Hearing movement behind him he turned and saw what was currently the most bizarre sight on the planet, a fully armored Britannian soldier spiraling towards him through the air like something out of an action movie, and considering Reploids existed, that was saying something.

Bracing himself, Lelouch was nonetheless sent flying to the floor of the trailer as the soldier's foot connected with his forearms, the man spinning before landing on the floor.

He grunted as he struggled to get up, knowing that kick would leave a rather nasty bruise. "Ungh… Are you Britannian..." He started before the soldier grabbed him by the collar, his gasmask unlocking.

"That's enough mindless murder." The soldier said, anger simmering in his voice, Lelouch detect a hint of an upper-class Japanese accent in his voice, marking him as a Foreign Legionary.

Lelouch's mind raced as he spotted the combat knife on the soldier's uniform, the only form of weaponry the Area 11 Foreign Legion was currently authorized to carry. _"HE THINKS I'M A TERRORIST!"_ The prince in hiding thought as he realized one wrong move and this man might _kill_ him. "Wait! I'm not-" He cried out only to be cut off by a kick to the gut.

"Planning to use poison gas?" The soldier stated, unconvinced, as Lelouch tried to sit up and forced him back down. "Don't play dumb with me!"

Lelouch kicked at him. "Get off me!" He cried out, rolling onto his side as the soldier leapt back, his fists raised as Lelouch stood up slowly. "I'm not here by choice, and if that's poison gas, it was made by Britannia wasn't it?" He challenged.

Now getting a clearer view of his face in the light from the upper levels, the soldier's mouth dropped open as Lelouch stepped forwards. "My god…"

Fury in his eyes, Lelouch spoke up again. "Mindless murder, poison gas… WHY DON'T YOU JUST OBLITERATE BRITANNIA BECAUSE ALL OF THIS IS THEIR DOING!" He shouted, expecting the soldier to try and deny the fact of the gas's origin or his nation's hypocrisy.

What the other young man said next was something he never would've expected in his life.

"It's really you Lelouch…" The soldier said before taking off his helmet, revealing a face Lelouch hadn't seen in nearly _seven years_. "It's me. Suzaku." The now revealed Suzaku Kururugi smiled at his old friend, leaving Lelouch speechless as memories flooded through his mind about the events during and prior to the Fall of Japan.

"You… You became a Britannian soldier…" Lelouch asked, incredulous and not entirely sure if this was a dream or not.

"Foreign Legion actually, and what about you? You're a-" Suzaku started hesitantly before Lelouch cut him off.

"I'm not with them, I just fell into the tr-" Lelouch attempted to respond before an alarm tone blared from the cylinder and light burst from a seam as the locks covering it began to open up, the closer half began to split open and spew some form of smoke from the gap and vents that had opened up. Suzaku reacting on instinct and covering his friend's mouth with the gasmask and tackling him to the ground, which Lelouch knew would have killed them **both** if it _was_ poison gas, as a re-breather wouldn't have kept any of the chemicals off his skin or out of his eyes and ears.

As the light began to fade, he could see a vaguely humanoid form standing in the center, although somewhat bulkier, mostly on the forearms and lower legs, than either him or Suzaku even accounting for their builds.

As the light faded, the figure became even clearer.

It was then that both realized it was a female Reploid of some kind, wearing a white bodysuit bearing green gauntlets, white feet and 'gloves', green bell-bottom style plating on her legs in typical reploid fashion. A multi-section green and white chestplate covered her upper torso, whilst lime green hair flowed down to her waist, with a pair of blade antennas projecting off of two discs and forming her 'ears'.

"That's not poison gas… A Reploid…?" Suzaku muttered as the two of them watched in confusion.

The Reploid's eyes fluttered open, golden irises gazing at them before the light left them as she shut down, her eyes and several vents on her body dimming as she slumped onto the floor of the trailer with an audible clank, offline, wires trailing from open panels on her arms and legs into the cylinder as the two boys got up and carefully stepped over to her.

"The hell..." Lelouch whispered as he inspected her more carefully. "Suzaku, help me get her outside."

"R... Right..." The other boy said nervously as he knelt down and carefully began to disconnect the wires.

* * *

"In all the confusion… I left it in the coat… Ugh Naoto would have been pissed about that, if only so he didn't yell at me about nearly dying..." Kallen admitted sheepishly as she hid in the subway, an antenna sticking out from a port on the Glasgow and up through a manhole, the sounds of VTOLs passing overhead were incessant.

["it's okay, the Glasgow's comms circuits are usable so at least you have that."] Ohgi responded reassuringly. ["So… Were we right…?"] He asked hesitantly.

Kallen sipped a water packet before replying. "Think so. I bet it's poison gas like Kyoto's intelligence said."

["And Nagata…?"]

"I dunno… I think he made it underground, I saw the truck get hit... Honestly I'd be surprised if he wasn't fatally injured... It's a miracle he survived at all with a Sutherland firing 25mm rounds into the cab." She said, frowning as she leaned back against her seat.

["Damn..."]

* * *

Nagata gasped and wheezed as he lay across the cab seats, growing weaker with each passing second.

At this point he was just waiting to kill some Britannians, to make his death hurt them.

It was all he had left...

* * *

Outside, Lelouch and Suzaku put the Reploid down, laying the inactive unit's frame against the side of the trailer. "Tell me the truth Suzaku… Poison gas… This Reploid? What's going on! What's the truth!?" He demanded heatedly.

Suzaku unlocked the restraints holding her legs together. "Hey, it's what they told us in the briefing I swear…"

Spotlights shone on the three as a pair of spiderlike mobile-floodlight Mechaniloids illuminated them. "Stinking **_monkey_**." Someone ground out as he and a mix of about at least nine or ten guardsmen and a handful Reploids in the maroon uniforms of Clovis's Royal Guard stepped forwards from the shadows, aiming their rifles at the two, with the Captain holding his arms behind his back. "Being an honorary Britannian will _not_ excuse you for this!" He growled as Suzaku ran over to him.

"But sir! I was told this was poison gas." He replied, attempting to defend Lelouch and himself.

"How _dare_ you question me." The man barked, leaving Suzaku speechless.

"This is bad…" Lelouch murmured. "A poisonous situation…" He knew that Suzaku's survival wasn't even guaranteed if he did for some reason turn on him. "Which would pose a threat to Suzaku's superiors if it's unleashed…" He glanced down at the Reploid. "What's so special about her that they need to go through all of this...?" The boy whispered.

"However, in light of your outstanding military achievements I'm going to be lenient." He pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and held it out by the slide, grip first, to Suzaku, whose eyes had gone wide. "Private Kururugi take this and **_execute_** the terrorist." The Captain ordered.

"But he's not a terrorist, he's just a civilian who got caught up in all of this!" Suzaku replied, the Guard Captain narrowing his eyes in response.

"You insubordinate little… That's an _order_ , didn't you swear your loyalty and your _life_ to Britannia? _Execute the terrorist_!" The Guard Captain repeated.

"Yes but… But… I can't…" Suzaku said as Lelouch's expression changed to one of fear, knowing his friend had practically signed his own death warrant, the orders of a Royal Guard officer were tantamount to the will of a Prince or Princess of the realm, unless a Knight of the Round or a higher ranked official such as the Prime Minister or Emperor rescinded them, disobeying them knowingly and willingly was grounds for immediate execution.

" _What._ " The Captain growled, rage simmering in his tone.

"I won't do it sir. I won't shoot a civilian… I just can't follow your orders sir…" Suzaku stated simply as the Captain pressed the barrel of the pistol into his side in response, in the area unprotected by the ballistic plates.

"Very well then. It appears that Private Kururugi was a terrorist infiltrator the entire time men." He stated grimly and then pulled the trigger as Suzaku's eyes widened in horrific realization, the distinct ping of the coilgun firing echoed through the tunnel as the Japanese boy crumpled.

" **SUZAKU!** " Lelouch screamed as he watched his friend's body hit the ground, he'd just reunited with him and now he was probably dead, all because of something _Clovis_ was doing. Another black mark against his homeland and family.

The Captain turned his attention to Lelouch, the exiled Prince realizing that he was a goner, if he so much as twitched to try and run he'd be dead before he knew what hit him with that many men and Reploids aiming guns at him.

"Well Britannian schoolboy, not a good day to cut class. Collect the Reploid, after you've secured her, kill the student."

"Yes my lord!" The guards echoed in unison, the voices of humans and machines echoed as one, all unified to _kill_ _him_. Next to Lelouch the Reploid stirred slightly as if reacting negatively to that, her eyes lighting up and tracking onto the Royal Guards.

* * *

Inside the cab, Nagata, having heard the confrontation, reached for the self-destruct button, as he saw it that hapless schoolboy was just as dead as that stupid Honorary Britannian sap who'd gotten himself killed because he dared to have morals.

Plus it wasn't every day that you get a shot at distracted Royal Guardsmen.

"Death… To… Britannia…" He wheezed as he stared at the picture of his wife and daughter, who'd died those seven years ago.

"Nihon… Banzai...!" He cried out with the last of his strength as he pressed the button, the light above it glowing an ominous red.

The charges detonated the cab of the truck, sending dust, smoke and shrapnel flying in all directions, however the reinforced cab inadvertently directed most of the blast upwards, something not known to the Kozuki group when they'd fitted the charges due to a lack of expertise on the subject of physics, Lelouch taking the chance to drag the Reploid girl away as the Royal Guard scattered and tried to get their bearings, grunting as he realized she was lighter than he expected but still heavy enough to make him feel like his back was about to snap in half.

* * *

In the cityscape above a massive plume of black smoke billowed out of the new hole in the roof of the subway system and slowly climbed into the sky.

* * *

Aboard the G-1 Bartley slammed his fist on the side of a communications console at the tactical command table. "They got away! And you call yourselves the Royal Guard?!"

["Uh… Forgive me my lord… The blast was mainly directed upwards but the fact-"]

"Why the hell do you think I only told _you people_ about this?! If this gets out we'll have a lot more than the SIB and the Maverick Hunters to worry about! Now get back to it or we'll replace you with someone who can get the job done!" Bartley scoffed, cutting the Captain's excuses off.

["W… We'll continue the search…"] The Captain sputtered, flustered by his embarrassment at the loss of subject and the thorough verbal wringing Bartley was giving him.

"The plan has moved forward to the next phase…" Clovis spoke up, as the eyes of the men on the bridge widened, all of them aware of what was about to come as their liege spoke of it like he was ordering a pizza.

"Uhh… But… But your Highness!" Bartley stuttered, even at this stage he still thought what his liege was about to order was too much.

"If word of her gets out I'll be disinherited… Tell them back home we're carrying out a planned 'urban renewal' here, Schneizel won't care, Odysseus is too much of a bore to do anything, and Cornelia hates the Elevens for what happened to our siblings. Thus, as Clovis, Third Prince of the Empire, I _command_ you. Destroy the Shinjuku Ghetto, leave _no one_ who isn't a member of our forces alive!" The Prince ordered, his tone brokering no room for dispute.

In the shadows of the bridge, a Reploid-shaped figure whistled. "Now things are getting interesting around here."

"Mind your place!" Bartley snapped at them.

"Alright, alright, I'm just here to protect his Highness from any random mavericks that get past your security anyways." They said, raising a hand to placate Bartley.

* * *

In the hangar bays of the G-1s, the Purist faction's Knightmares, rearmed and with their fillers replaced, launched out again alongside those of the Royal Guard as artillery, as more transports launched their own Sutherland and Liverpool detachments. Mechaniloid, mechanized, artillery, and armored units moved to firing positions around the Ghetto, gunships and utility VTOLs converted into light bombers roaring into the air in the distance.

The artillery batteries thundered as they sent the first salvos downrange, mortar and howitzer shells raining down on Shinjuku as the VTOLs dove in, bombing, strafing and rocketing everything that moved that wasn't Britannian.

A flare shot up and landspinners roared to life as dozens of tanks, APCs, Knightmares, Mechaniloids and Ride Armors rumbled into the ghetto.

The Purist Faction leading the way.

* * *

From their position at a checkpoint inside the settlement with some grunt Maverick Hunter Reploids, X and Zero looked towards the Ghetto as columns of smoke began to rise in the distance, X magnified his vision, spotting modified UV-1 Iroquois light utility VTOLs dropping five hundred and thousand pound bombs on the Ghetto from their stub wing and belly pylons, the markings of Clovis's Royal Guards visible on the tail booms and engine pods of the aircraft and the escorting gunships.

"No…" X whispered as he realized what was going on, Zero clenching his fists as they realized there was nothing they could do now that a Britannian Prince was involved.

"Damn it all…" Zero grumbled as he looked over at a nearby hunter. "Contact Commander Sigma, now!"

The hunter saluted and tapped on his comms unit while Zero watched another volley of artillery shells arc down into the Ghetto, far enough away that the average person inside the Settlement would neither notice nor hear such devastation.

"Damn Britannians… Why are their people so blind...?" He snarled under his breath.

* * *

Inside the Ghetto, Japanese, destitute Reploids and abandoned Mechaniloids scattered in fear as a Purist Faction KMF burst through the side of a building and began gunning down the fleeing crowd with its 25mm assault rifle while more units roared through the streets around it.

* * *

VTOLs and airborne Mechaniloids flitted past buildings as an elderly couple scrambled to grab their belongings and flee, neither got far as a Britannian infantry Reploid gunned them down. "Alright let's sweep the next floor… Thank god for dispensations for military Reploids…" He muttered as the mixed Reploid/Human unit proceeded to the next floor up on the apartment complex.

* * *

Tanks, self-propelled artillery guns, mortar carriers, Mechaniloids, Sutherlands, and Liverpools lobbed shells and rockets into the Ghetto as squads of gunships strafed and rocketed buildings and streets from overhead, ["The enemy is garbage that could never hope to become even Honorary Britannians! Wipe out every last one of them!"] Bartley ordered, putting up his best raging jingoist performance to rile up the Purists in order to hide the true reason he wanted them dead.

"Naturally." Jeremiah Gottwald purred as he watched the troops file into buildings to clear them out, few if any of the Elevens had firearms, it would be the Reploids and Mechaniloids that were more dangerous and they had _more_ than enough firepower to deal with any of those, either way it would be a simple task to paint them as Mavericks to appease the Maverick Hunters.

["Supervisor Jeremiah. General Bartley requests that you take control of a speci-"] An operator began before being cut off.

"Bartley has staff officers. I haven't had this much _fun_ on the frontlines in _ages_! Don't bother me about this again!" Jeremiah responded, excitement in his voice as he began firing at a group of civilians trying to run into a nearby alley, cutting them all down with bullets and shrapnel from the torn up road surfaces.

" _Even if I have to kill every last Eleven, I will avenge them..."_ He thought darkly, remembering his failure to protect Empress Marianne's children, and how the Japanese murdered them to spite Britannia.

* * *

Aboard the G-1 Clovis watched with amusment as the red swathes that marked the Britannian front-line closed further in on the center of the Ghetto on the TACNET map.

* * *

Inside an underground station in the subway, Lelouch and the Reploid girl ran through the hallways, blasts echoing around them and casting eerie orange-red light into the subway as bombs, rockets and shells blew open chunks of the street above, the Reploid tripped on a crater and hit the ground, skidding to a halt, Lelouch winced at the painful noise of metal scraping on tile as he leaned against the wall, hand on his face as he tried to catch his breath as the shrieks of bombs and shells roared around them while loose debris fell from the ceiling.

"What the hell are you!" He demanded, attempting to make sense of his brother's madness, the Reploid soundlessly turning to look at him. "This Chaos is all your fault isn't it! Not only that but Britannia has… Killed Suzaku!" Lelouch accused between breaths, the Reploid staring at him with half-lidded golden eyes, he still wasn't sure why she wasn't doing anything beyond following him like a confused duckling, in all likelihood her programming was damaged or something he assumed given the fact she hadn't said a single word.

* * *

"He didn't even let them tell him…?" Lloyd asked as he sat uselessly on his prize project's transporter. Surrounded by Britannia's military might, and Clovis's defense line in the event _someone_ somehow got past or overwhelmed the front-line troops.

"It looks like he's too far in to recall at this point." Cecile stated.

"Even though we brought the Lancelot here…?" Lloyd sighed, mildly annoyed and depressed.

"Now what'll we do…"

"We steamrolled our way in here hoping to test it, but now we don't have a devicer to use it…" Lloyd grumbled as he twirled the Lancelot's activation key uselessly in front of himself.

* * *

As Lelouch and the Reploid crawled up a flight of stairs, he looked back at her. "Stay quiet, and wait here…" He was still confused as to why Clovis wanted a civilian model Reploid this badly…

As he peered up and out of the stairwell, gunfire echoed from only a few feet away, Lelouch ducking back down as a well dressed Japanese businessman collapsed to the floor, blood pooling around his body and those of the people he was seeking shelter with.

The Royal Guard squad from before raised the barrels of their rifles up at a forty-five degree angle in ready position as the Captain walked into the poorly built warehouse intended to hide the station entrance by resistance groups. "Corporal, Report." He demanded.

"We found only Elevens here sir." The ranking enlisted Guardsman reported, the Captain sneering as he stared at the corpses.

"You're sure of it? That exit comes out here correct?" He asked.

"Yes sir, it matches up with our map of the old city, but the bombardment has opened up holes in the system that they could've climbed out of." The Corporal reported as Lelouch looked at C2 before he heard a young child begin to cry and turning his head to look for them. Then a burst of gunfire cut the noise off, Lelouch closing his eyes to avoid witnessing yet another mindless killing. _"Trapped like rats… I'm going to die… Can this get_ any _worse?"_

As if to prove his point that he should have let things lie, his cellphone began to ring. Lelouch's eyes widened like a deer in the headlights as the Guardsmen and Reploids readied their rifles as the captain glanced towards the source of the new sound.

"What was that? You four go check it out, we'll cover you." The Captain ordered as four soldiers, two human and two Reploid, marched over as the rest leveled their rifles at the surroundings.

"Yes my Lord." They acknowledged.

Instinctively Lelouch had hit the end call button, figuring it was either Rivalz or Shirley despite knowing it was too late and they'd probably gotten him killed in an ironic attempt to figure out if he was okay or something.

The Guards spotted him as they approached, rushed the stairwell and the two Reploids seized the Reploid Girl by her arms, hauling her off to the side as the Captain marched over seized Lelouch from the grapple the two men had him in and tossed him at the wall.

"What an appropriate location for a terrorist to meet his end." He jeered smugly.

"You scum…" Lelouch muttered weakly as he slid up the wall to his feet.

"Still you did well for a student, but that's to be expected, you're a **Britannian** after all. Unfortunately for you, my clever young friend, you have no future." The Captain stated calmly as he pointed his sidearm at Lelouch and began to squeeze on the trigger.

As if to spite him a blond haired young woman dropped from the rafters above and intercepted the bullet with her body. "Sorry, can't let you do that... Now can I...?" She taunted as she expired, a smirk on her face as her red eyes closed shut.

The Captain reeled back slightly in shock at the sudden intrusion. "What the!?" He snarled.

Blood spread out on the floor from the hole that has blossomed in her chest, the Reploids tensing up a bit.

"You shot her!" Lelouch cried out as he walked over and knelt next to her.

"Hmph… She got in the way like the pathetic little fool she was. The bullet _was_ meant for you after all boy." The Captain replied with a halfhearted shrug. "Oh well nothing to be done about it now, we'll tell our superiors that the Royal Guard found a terrorist hideout and killed them all, regrettably a female hostage had already been murdered by a radicalized Britannian shortly before we arrived, and that the Reploid was the only thing we could recover in the chaos. What do you think schoolboy? Would the media believe this story?" He taunted as the Reploid Guardsmen glanced at their captive, whom had lowered her head for some reason.

Lelouch could only stare in horror at the body of a girl he'd never even met before laying before him, blood leaking out as he reached for her. _"How can this be happening… First Suzaku's killed… Then this girl… And now_ I'm _about to die… Before I've had a chance to a_ single _thing with my life…"_ A memory of Nunnally sitting in a wheelchair in a field full of flowers during a trip to the gardens earlier that year came to mind. _"It's all gone in a heartbeat… I'M SORRY NUNNALLY!"_

The golden eyes of the Reploid girl watched the student in front of her.

"Combat systems rebooting..." She whispered emotionlessly.

"What was that...?" One of the Reploid Guardsmen asked her, getting no response.

Lelouch stood there as the captain checked his pistol's battery charge to ensure it was optimal for firing.

And then Lelouch's face contorted in shock as the seemingly dead girl grabbed his shaking wrist.

* * *

Lelouch's face twisted in shock as well as an electrical sensation shot through his very being, dragging him into a place that he barely comprehended.

" _You don't want it to end here do you?"_

" _What…?"_

" _You appear to have a reason for living… This... interests me."_

" _The girl…"_ Lelouch thought as he gazed upon indescribable sights he possibly couldn't hope to decipher. _"That's impossible."_ He thought, focusing on her to avoid potentially going mad from what he was witnessing.

 _"Ugh, I hate this part, so cliche... But well, the show must go on."_

 _"What...?"_

" _If I grant you power, could you go on? Could you use it to continue living?"_ She asked, dozens of images of her flashing before his eyes, intermixed with visions of incomprehensible worlds and machines contrasted against the backdrop of space, and a conduit of some kind blazing with electricity, like a neuron.

 _"I propose a deal. In exchange for this power you must agree to make my one wish come true,_ whatever _it might be. Accept this contract and you accept all of its conditions, every, last, one of them. While living in the physical world, you will live unlike any other, a different providence. A different time. A different_ life _if you would. The Power of the King will condemn you to a life of solitude like it has_ countless _others, are you prepared for this young man? Are you willing to accept this burden and_ curse _?"_ She warned, giving Lelouch some pause at the word curse.

The images coalesced into one that Lelouch _could_ recognize. Showing the back of his father, the Emperor Charles zi Britannia, standing on some ethereal place, flanked by four robed figures. _"A convergence with the Ragnarok connection!? So, the myth is beginning once again!"_ His father's voice rumbled in his mind.

Seeing that, Lelouch's resolve hardened, if his father was somehow connected to this strange power, then he too must have it to destroy Britannia as it was now. _"YES! I HEREBY ACCEPT THE TERMS OF YOUR CONTRACT!"_ He replied without a moment's hesitation as two cogs clicked into place, as if signifying the wheels of the world beginning to turn again.

* * *

Lelouch found himself suddenly in the ghetto again, staring down at the corpse of the blond haired girl, belatedly realizing she looked eerily similar to the Reploid he and Suzaku had found in the terrorist truck. Slowly and with purpose he stood up, covering his left eye.

The Guard Captain eyed him over, noting the sudden and inexplicable, to him, change in the boy's behavior.

"Say…" Lelouch asked. "How should a Britannian who detests his own country live his life?"

The Captain smirked wryly as he aimed his pistol at Lelouch again. "Are you some kind of radical?" He scoffed.

Then the smirk was wiped off his face as he finally realized something was _very_ wrong with this situation. A lone, unarmed, schoolboy shouldn't be this _confident_ in the face of around a dozen men and three Reploids armed with military spec coilarms.

"What's wrong…? Why not shoot? Your opponent is just a schoolboy. Or have you finally realized… The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to _be_ killed!" Lelouch exclaimed as he lowered his hand, revealing the mark of Geass in his left eye as he entrapped them in its baleful gaze.

Now it was the Captain's turn to quiver in fear as something he could not comprehend stood before him. "Uhn… Wh... What's happening here…"

"What sort of world is this where a human being's life is measured in his worth to some fool in a gilded ivory tower? Where small men feel it is their right to kill and to order others to kill on command!? Where tyrants deride the rights of others for their own ends!" He demanded, a hint of mania in his voice as his brain struggled against the raw power of his new Geass briefly. "No more of this farce, I shall burn this twisted stage down myself! Alongside all who dare to prop it up! Starting with the lot of you!"

Lelouch raised his left arm for added dramatic effect, gesturing at the men before him as the three Guard Reploids stood off to the side, watching with mouths agape. "I… Lelouch vi Britannia command you… Now all of you… _Die_!" He whispered as he swept his arm to the side, the Geass of absolute obedience leaping out to seize control of his victims' neural synapses.

The Captain took a step back and began chuckling psychotically as he pointed his pistol at his own neck, the Reploids stiffened in shock, unaffected due to their nature as automatons rather than organics.

"Happily your highness!" He shouted with demented glee as his men followed suit with their own sidearms. "Ready!" He shouted as his men flicked the safeties off their pre-cocked weapons.

"Fire!" He ordered as every single one of the human Guardsmen pulled the triggers of their sidearms, the coughlike pings of the coilarms discharging filling the room as Lelouch's facade dropped, shocked by his newfound power. The men dropped to the ground as he stared in horror at their corpses. Of how with but a single command he'd made nearly a dozen human beings commit suicide at a whim.

The switch to smug self-satisfaction died in his neurons as he remembered the Reploid Guardsmen, whom were now pointing their rifles at him and beginning to pull the triggers of the weapons, the Reploid girl obscured by their forms, even if they'd heard his statement that he was the 17th Prince, they were likely panicking given he'd just caused nearly a dozen grown men to commit _suicide_ with a single command.

 _"No! HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID!"_ Lelouch thought before one of the Reploids suddenly screamed as the grooved cone-shaped head of a generic mining drill burst through his chest, lubricants and coolant leaking off the tip of the lethal tool as his rifle discharged into the floor until it emptied its magazine, the other two whirling around and backing off in fear as the female Reploid stood up straight and slid the husk off the drill, Lelouch stunned by her new appearance.

The lightly protected civilian outfit she wore earlier had been replaced by a full suit of armor, the white bodysuit now covered thoroughly in two-tone green plating that boasted white trimming, protecting her torso and limbs almost completely, excluding only the joints, two larger blade antennas stuck up on either side of her new helmet which in turn had two white cheek guards sticking out to the front. Her long green hair still flowed down to her waist and a vaguely diamond shaped violet gem was embedded in the center of the helmet's forehead, a lighter colored ridge tapering back towards the rear after emerging flush with the upper end of the gem, while a violet visor obscured her eyes in the low light.

She had the appearance of a lethal high-end combat Reploid like many _Maverick Hunters_ rather than a helpless civilian model now.

"C2… My designation is C2…" She murmured, as if trying to remind herself who she was. The drill bit on her right arm retracted and was replaced by a cannon barrel of some kind.

 _"So_ this _is why Clovis wants her back so desperately..._ " Lelouch thought as she stared at her arm cannon in brief confusion.

"A M... Mega B... Buster Cannon!" One of the surviving Reploids squeaked in horror as she aimed at him. "She's just like X and Zero!"

C2 fired a shot that blew the second Reploid's torso apart, the haunting image fire bursting out the mouth of his humanlike face would stay with Lelouch for some time.

The third screamed incoherently as he fired his rifle on full auto until it ran dry, the bullets bouncing off C2, with some narrowly missing Lelouch as he hit the deck. She strode forwards, calmly grabbed him with her left hand as he attempted to reload and retracted her buster cannon before reaching up to grab him by the face, muffling the Reploid's screams.

"Shut up." She ordered as she tore his flextanium face-plate clean off, circuits and machinery now exposed to the world as the other machine shut down and died, after which she promptly blasted all three of them in the head, to ensure no record of her would remain.

The battle grade Reploid turned to Lelouch, whom gazed in utter horror at the ease with which she'd just destroyed three Royal Guard spec Reploids, mortified by the thought she'd turn such power on him, his terrified reflection visible in her visor.

"Awaiting further instructions." She stated calmly and emotionlessly, as if bored now.

"What...?" He asked her, confused as to why she'd just follow his orders.

"A hardlock in my system forces me to obey the orders of Britannian Royalty, as you identified yourself as Lelouch vi Britannia I must follow any instruction you'll give me." The Reploid replied.

Lelouch's face twisted in disgust at what had been done to this Reploid on his brother's orders. "Override the hardlock and disengage it, in my name I order you."

There was a brief glimmer of confusion in her eyes as the lock disengaged, Clovis's programmers not having anticipated this from anyone except potentially Euphemia. "Why...?"

"Because that's no way to live..." He whispered. "As someone else's tool."

"Understood... I will still follow your orders..." She acknowledged, softer this time.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow, confused again.

"I... Do not have any other purpose and no end goal in mind..." She admitted only as someone who could only speak in monotone could.

"I see... And you wish for me to provide you with a purpose, a reason to utilize your power."

Now, with his attention undivided, he gazed upon the carnage around him and then at the Reploid that was the only other 'living' thing left in the room. Only now did he realize what power he had at his command as he thought back to the invasion of Japan. _"That was the turning point. Since that day I've lived a lie. The lie of_ living _. My name too was a lie. My personal history… A lie._ Nothing _but lies. I was sick to_ **death** _of a world that couldn't be changed. But even in my lies I_ refused _to give up and despair. But now these incredible powers… They're_ **mine**. _And now, so many doors are open to me._ _"_ He thought, electrified by the possibilities now avaliable to him.

His expression changed to one of self-assured smugness. "Well then." He purred as the wheels of his mind began turning in earnest.

"Where to from here?"

* * *

 **AN: Yep, not much I could've done differently to spruce it up with a more Mega Man X touch… For now... Because when the Reploids start getting more involved leaf shields will hit the Airman, quick.**

 **Yep that sucked I know.**

 **As for who the C.C. 'replacement' is, well, some might figure it out immediately, others probably won't.**

 **Moreover since Code R never discovered the existence of Geass or immortality it's doubtful V.V. would initially care much about their expertise come R2, but in turn gives a good excuse for Jeremiah's cyborg state later on in R1 because honestly they had to pull that out of their asses given how popular he ended up being IRL, plus Reploid technology is a bit more applicable for it than Knightmare Frame tech.**

 **The man has swords built into his _arms_ for god's sake, that totally screams Mega Man in a _lot_ of contexts.**

 **The filler episodes with Mao in them will be more heavily Maverick themed, to the point that Mao probably won't even make it through the first chapter of that arc depending on how I do it, and I am going to have _fun_ with those because it means eighty percent more usage of Vile being himself (AKA a total jackass who runs some pragmatism on the side).**

 **As a side note, according to the Audio Drama, Jeremiah and Lloyd went to College together and the former took the fall for the latter's dorm-room experiments.**

 **The more you learn.**

 **And as for the Britannian Reploids and those of most national/multinational militaries, they typically have armor/uniforms identical to or inspired by the human counterpart for their positions, just adjusted for Reploid proportions.**


	2. Stage 2: The Shinjuku Incident

**AN: And chapter two!**

 **For the whole timeline change stuff that apparently happened because of retcons since people couldn't fucking communicate during the production for Akito the Exiled.**

 **God, Sunrise sucks at internal stuff that isn't related to Gundam and even _then_.**

 **But, yeah, no, fuck the calendar retcon if that's actually a thing, I hate it because they had something mildly interesting going with the whole futuristic actually 60's setting (which makes sense given the total lack of proper IFVs, which seem to be replaced by KMFs in CG, and mass use of ATGMs as the latter of those were pioneered as a result of Russian and Western investigations into German missile tech. And current IFVs as they exist IRL were essentially a product of the sudden shock of Russia's BMP program despite earlier autocannon equipped vehicles existing, largely due to its greater armor and firepower in comparison, and the resulting rush to catch up to it in the Seventies and Eighties. Plus all the stuff involving Rockets being seemingly EU exclusive because Nazi Rocketry.) but then they apparently decided to pick the lazy option because people fucked up the spin-off's timeline instead of adjusting Akito's calendar dates to match.**

 **Also how in the fuck did Euro Britannia set up within a year with minimal opposition when it is implied it took several to consolidate full control of Area 11 and they're _still_ dealing with the JLF because Clovis was an idiot.**

 **Plus Russia was EU territory as is clearly visible in the prologue in Episode _1_ , it doesn't make any sense in universe or out of it for Britannia to just suddenly have seemingly uncontested total control of goddamn _Russia_ within a single _year_.**

 **Which implies a separate timeline for Akito from the TV series. Something that I don't think has been fully addressed.**

 **Goddamn fuck Bandai-Sunrise with a rake sometimes, between the idiotic decisions for P-Bandais and screwing Code Geass's canon into three camps, Akito-verse, TV-verse, and the Compilation movies (The last of which was _intentional_ at least and may possibly include the supposed Akito-verse), they honestly need more competent people working for them.**

 **I mean, why even use the ATB calendar anymore if it's no different from the Gregorian one? Isn't that the whole point of using a different calendar than the Gregorian/Anno Domini one, because the way years and such are counted is different?**

 **Anyways it's not like it matters here since canon adherence was left hanging onto the window for this fic the moment Mega Man got involved.**

 **Plus Russia is _Soviet_ land in this fic so eh.**

 **Rant over, let's begin.**

 **Oh and I'm gonna start using underlining to ID Geass commands.**

 **So I'll be adjusting Stage/Chapter 1 accordingly.**

* * *

 **August 15, 2017 ATB. Shinjuku Redevelopment Area Block 5, Shinjuku Ghetto, Area 11. 1045 Hours Local time.**

Lelouch knelt next to the corpse of the girl who'd given him his new power, surrounded by the corpses of the dead and the sounds of the raging slaughter outside as C2 stood at his side, the green haired Reploid scanning around for hostiles.

"I don't understand… What it is you wanted me to do… Why did you save me and give me this power…?" He asked futilely as the howls of artillery shells and bombs raining down roared in the distance.

"She is dead… You will gain no answers about her motivations from a corpse…" The Reploid noted, earning a brief glare from Lelouch before she raised her mega buster cannon upon detecting a large energy signature moving towards them and jumping behind cover.

Lelouch, distracted by his thoughts as he stared down at the corpse of the white-haired girl, was snapped out of them by an explosion, the building shaking as a hole was punched into the top of the entranceway and a Purist faction Sutherland rolled into the building, factsphere opening as it scanned the area.

* * *

Viletta Nu frowned as she looked at the dead Human Guardsmen before shivering at the sight of the devastated Reploid Guardsmen when her cameras swept over to them, the factsphere finally locking onto Lelouch and tracking up to him.

"How could all these Royal Guards be dead…?" She whispered incredulously as she looked at the schoolboy on her main screen. "And how is that boy still alive...?"

* * *

Lelouch stared indifferently at the Knightmare Frame standing before him as its factsphere closed and the external speakers powered on. ["What happened here boy?!"] The pilot, a woman he realized, demanded. ["And why is a Britannian student in a place like this?!"] When he didn't respond, she began to get frustrated. ["Are you deaf?! Answer me or I'll-"] She cut herself off and fired a salvo of shots, outlining Lelouch with holes made in the corrugated metal wall behind him.

His ears ringing, Lelouch turned his head slightly, managing to keep an even face despite the mindsplitting pain his eardrums were in. [" **ANSWER ME!** "] She demanded again, beginning to lose her temper even further.

Calling upon his Geass, Lelouch spoke. "I order you to come out, at once!"

The result was one of the two he expected. ["Who the _hell_ do you think you are to order **me**."] She responded, incredulous as to why one schoolboy thought he could order an officer of the Purist faction around.

" _I see, it only works with direct eye contact, any form of interference from cameras or other such barriers will nullify it."_ He thought while his Geass faded away, meanwhile C2 readied her buster in the shadows, waiting for a command to strike.

He decided to play a different game, stepping forwards and raising his hands, he spoke up again, weaving yet another lie, even if an expendable one this time. "My name is Alan Spacer. My father's a duke." He said calmly.

* * *

"Nobility…?" Viletta echoed as she sat in the Sutherland's cockpit.

["My ID card's in my breast pocket, after you confirm who I am… I'll request your protection."] The boy's voice played out on the Frame's speakers.

Powering the frame down and removing the activation key, she unlocked the hatch and rode the boarding line down to the ground, sidearm at the ready.

* * *

Lelouch smirked as she hopped off the line, he didn't understand why she was wearing something so unsuited for _battle_ , then again when was the last time Britannia had given its standard ground-based war machinery a color scheme that didn't scream ' _please shoot me I'm right here_ '? The invasion of Japan?

He hated how Britannia had chosen ornate over practicality, only the infantry, tank crews, and aircraft pilots wore anything sensible.

Regardless, she'd gotten out of her machine instead of calling up an infantry squad to handle him, which suited him perfectly. _"Predictable… Be it the regular army or special groups like the Purists… Most of them will roll over for nobility no matter what. Disgusting…"_

"Keep your hands up in the air. I'll take out your ID." The woman stated as she began to walk over, aiming her sidearm at him.

Calling upon his Geass, Lelouch took his chance. "Now then… Hand your Knightmare and Sidearm over to me." He ordered, Viletta's mind bending to his will in a mere instant.

Turning the pistol in her hands so she was offering it to him grip first she acknowledged his order. "Understood. The activation code number is XG21G2D4." She stated as she tossed him the activation key.

"Got it…" Lelouch said as he caught it and took the pistol from her hand, flicking the safety back on as she handed him her spare magazine as well. "Ignore everything that happens from this point until I've left…" He ordered, testing the limits of the commands he could give, although considering he'd made nearly a dozen men commit suicide as his first one, it seemed rather foolish to consider making her his puppet impossible if he could force a human being to overcome their survival instincts and willingly accept death.

"Understood…" Viletta replied as he let his Geass recede, while it _would_ be great to have a mole on the inside, it was too risky without a secure and reliable way to give commands to them or receive information, all he had was a strange power, a powerful Reploid super soldier, an M1911A2 coilpistol with two spare magazines of ammo, and this Sutherland at his command, while the first two were indispensable assets… He had no organization, no muscle and minds to back him up.

What use was a mole to him without that? Hell, Lelouch wasn't even sure if he could even _get_ anyone _else_ to follow him at this juncture.

He turned to C2. "Stay with me, keep in the shadows until we develop a plan, the last thing we need is the Britannians devoting their heavy artillery to bring you down."

"Roger." She replied as he took the boarding line back up to the cockpit of the Sutherland, closing the cockpit before inserting the activation key and entering the code number. Hearing a thump as C2 landed atop the cockpit pod, he activated the landspinners and backed out of the building, before tearing off into the distance, leaving Viletta Nu to awaken from her trance, alone and confused.

What Viletta couldn't have known is that one of the bodies would be missing when she snapped out of the trance.

* * *

Inside a medical vehicle, Lloyd watched Suzaku, counting down mentally until he figured that the Honorary Britannian would wake up if he made a loud enough noise. "So are we having a bad day!?" He asked loudly, causing Suzaku's eyes to shoot open. "Looks you missed a chance to go to heaven Private Kururugi." Lloyd stated with all of his usual tact, which was almost non-existant.

"I… I did…?" Suzaku asked as he sat up, attempting to get his bearings, hearing the sounds of heartbeat monitors and other medical equipment, the last thing he remembered was a gunshot, pain, Lelouch shouting his name, and then nothing. "Where…"

"Hmm? Ah, we're still in the Shinjuku Ghetto." Lloyd replied almost flippantly.

"With Prince Clovis nearby this is probably the safest place anywhere in Area 11 at the moment." Cecile stated calmly, knowing they were surrounded by several defensive lines made of infantry, Reploids, Mechaniloids, Knightmares, armored vehicles, machine gun and anti-tank positions, SAM sites, AA guns, artillery, etcetera. She leaned over and showed Suzaku something in her hands. "This is what saved your life, Mr. Suzaku." She said, catching the Honorary Britannian off-guard, he was still a couple years too young to have an age-related title like that, plus being called that by a _Britannian_ of all people was... Off-putting to say the least.

"You're lucky it was under your protective suit, because that's what deflected the bullet, well, away from your heart or lungs at least." Lloyd noted rather morbidly.

Suzaku stared at the watch, causing Cecile to realize it was important to him. "Is it a keepsake?" She asked as Suzaku took the pocket watch.

"Yeah… Very…" He replied, somewhat depressed as he stared at his father's old watch.

The last reminder he had of a dead man.

A man he'd murdered out of fear, fear that his father would send so many people to die pointlessly to sate his own pride.

Fear that'd he'd kill his best friend and their blind and crippled little sister out of spite...

"You Elevens believe gods live inside of everything, even objects, don't you?" Lloyd asked, Suzaku turning to face him, wondering why the man even cared to read up on Shintoism. "I guess this on-"

Suzaku cut him off. "Is Lelo-…" He stopped himself partway and looked down at the watch, knowing if his friend was hiding like that he shouldn't namedrop him, as him being the son of the last Prime Minister of Japan would probably give away the exiled Prince's survival since the Britannian government would know the two undoubtedly had met during Lelouch's and Nunnally's time as political tools, something Suzaku knew would give his friend an endless amount of grief.

Thus, he changed the subject. "What's the latest on the situation…" He requested instead.

"It looks like the poison gas was released." Lloyd stated as if discussing the weather. " _Massive_ Eleven casualties have been reported." It didn't sound like he really believed the official line.

Suzaku looked down at his watch again, knowing that it was likely a coverup operation as he personally knew the gas never existed at all, still...

"They haven't caught the perpetrators yet." Cecile added worriedly.

"They haven't huh… Not yet…?" He responded, a glimmer of hope rising in his heart. _"Then there's still a chance Lelouch could be alive…"_

"Private Kururugi… How much experience do you have in piloting a Knightmare Frame…?" Lloyd asked, seeing his opening. He'd run the boy's physical records against the Lancelot's specs while he was out cold on a hunch and had been more than plesantly surprised to see Suzaku was nearly perfect for Lancelot as he was in far better shape than most soldiers his age, or period really.

"Wha… But… There's no way an Eleven would be made a Knight…" He responded in shock, unless these two had special authority from a Royal it was impossible.

Llyod held up the Z-01's activation key and dangled it in front of Suzaku. "Well supposing you could… And supposing we had direct authority from The Second Prince _himself_ to seek out _any_ suitable candidate to pilot it and then choose from the **most suitable** among even these few… What would you say…?"

Suzaku's stared at the key. "Yes… I'll pilot it…" He finally responded, he'd scored above practically everyone else, Regular Military or Foreign Legion, when he was operating the trainers and simulators for the MR-2 worker Frames in advanced training, the only thing close to a Sutherland or even a Glasgow or Liverpool that the Foreign Legionaries were allowed to seriously contemplate even _touching_.

A grin broke out on Lloyd's face as he spread his arms with glee. "CONGRATULATIONS! The only Knightmare of its kind as of yet awaits you! Once you take the controls of this big beauty everything will change, you _and_ your world."

"Whether you want it to or not…" Cecile stated softly, as if in warning.

* * *

In the Ghetto streets, Japanese and Civilian Reploids ran for their lives as an M60 tank blazed away at them with its coaxial and pintle mounted machine guns, cutting many of them down in a hail of bullets before the turret turned and fired its linear cannon, a HESH shell blowing apart a wall, sending masonry and dust everywhere.

A slash harken promptly burst out from a hole in the ground, hitting the narrow gap between the main cannon barrel and the angled turret cheek armor, disabling the gun's elevation mechanism, the tank immediately fired off a set of smoke grenades and withdrew behind the cover of the screen, landspinners whirring as it vanished behind a building before Kallen's Glasgow emerged.

"Those damn Britannians!" Inside the cockpit, Kallen was on the verge of tears, something had gone horribly wrong with Nagata if the Britannians were liquidating the Ghetto to cover up what they'd stolen.

["Kallen?! Can the Glasgow still move?!"] Ohgi asked, the sounds of gunfire chattering over his radio.

Kallen hit the transmit switch.

* * *

Atop a ruined house, Ohgi listened to her response. ["Don't worry Ohgi. It's alright. I'll go decoy them while you get people out of here! The only ones that'll be captured are those of us in the resistance!"]

"I would but we're trapped! Their troops have us completely surrounded! If we try to get the civilians to a safehouse the Britannians will just cut them to pieces on the way or when they follow us there! We don't stand a chance!" Ohgi responded as Minami fired a Soviet made RPG at a target of opportunity, in this case a utility VTOL that promptly backed away, sending a volley MG fire at the direction of the rooftop as both men ducked for cover.

* * *

Inside the stolen Purist Sutherland, which belonged to Area 11 chapter member Viletta Nu according to credentials he found inside the cockpit, Lelouch picked up his phone and hit last caller, dialing up Shirley. "Let's see if I'm right about the scale of this coverup…" He mused as he waited for Shirley to pick up.

["Oh, Lulu? Oh, what in the world have you been doing? Why didn't you answer your phone!? Where are you now?!"] She asked nonstop after picking up the phone. ["If you keep cutting class you'll get held back!"] She warned testily.

Lelouch resisted the urge to sigh, Shirley meant well but her overbearing nature did ironically almost get him _shot_. "Are you near a TV?" He asked.

["A TV?"] Shirley replied, confused.

"Sorry but this is important." He said, hoping the sounds of gunfire and explosions weren't being picked up by the phone. Of if they were that she thought he was watching a movie or something.

["Hang on… Hey can I change the channel?"] She asked, probably some other students she was near, Lelouch mused. ["Huh? To what?"] Someone whose voice he didn't recognize asked.

"To the news, is there anything about Shinjuku?" He asked her, figuring that there would be some excuse to keep people from getting too close.

["The news…? Uh… Let's see… There's nothing on… Traffic Restrictions on the roads leading into or past Shinjuku…?"]

Lelouch frowned, as he expected. "Why is it restricted?" He asked as he put the Sutherland behind cover as four APCs and a pair of tanks passed by, C2 watching his flanks from atop the command pod of the Knightmare.

Better to not be seen at all then risk it and get outed by someone while in a Frame whose registered pilot wasn't even the same _sex_ as him, which by itself would probably cause them to shoot first if they tried to find out who he was, which given these were _Clovis's_ forces, would probably take about seven hours.

["I dunno, they're not saying…"] Shirley replied.

" _I get it, once they finish everything off… They'll release news that favors the military…"_ He thought, before being suddenly distracted by something on the ground, either flung from a building or dropped by someone in the chaos. ["Ohhh you're gambling again aren't you! I've warned you before more than once how dangerous that is"] Shirley accused as he focused on the objects on the ground in front of his frame, magnifying the view to see a chessboard sitting on the ground, the pieces scattered about with the Black King and White Rook laid out on the center of the board. He smiled as a plan began to come together in his head.

"Yep you caught me." He admitted, not entirely a lie as he _had_ been gambling for money earlier… And he was about to be gambling with far more precious things in mere minutes. "By the way, tell my little sister I'm going to be home late tonight would you? Thanks." He promptly hung up on her, continuing to formulate his new plan to defeat Clovis's men, all he needed was some troops.

"They need to keep a lid on this information… So it'll be hard to call in reinforcements… They'll have to make do with the pieces they have on the board…" Lelouch noted as he observed the tactical movements, thanking providence that he'd stolen an officer's frame and the information access on the TACNET that came with it… He idly noted there was a trainload of new KMFs belonging to the Royal Guard that were being moved in from the city.

Typical Clovis, in an actual battle such a tactic would've been foolhardy, moving troops directly into the battlezone on a train was just asking for them to be targeted by everyone with a line of fire.

["What're you planning?"] C2 asked, her voice projecting into the internal speakers of the frame via the physical datalink connection she had with it.

"We're hemmed in here, it'll be tough to break through by ourselves…" He replied as he considered options from the information he had available to him. "Gaining refuge has its own risks too…" He said as he opened the cockpit of the Sutherland and stood up. "Alright then… Option three it is."

Elsewhere in the Ghetto Kallen fired her sole operational slash harken again, crushing a UV-1's fuel tank as the light gunship model pulled out of its strafing run on her, the vaguely tadpole shaped VTOL burst into flames and fell from the sky as the crewmen bailed, their 'chutes opening as they fell away from the doomed aircraft, which was visible to both Lelouch and C2 as they watched the fireball glide a short distance before dropping like a rock into the streets below, a column of smoke slowly rising into the sky as the wreckage burned.

 _"I want compensation for being dragged into_ your _fight…"_ He thought as he began to estimate a basic area of where the Red Glasgow could possibly be relative to the point the VTOL was hit, sitting back down and closing the cockpit up, he pulled the radio out of his shirt pocket and looked through the preset channels.

He smirked. "C2, we have a train to catch."

["Roger."]

* * *

Behind Kallen, two Purist faction Sutherlands and a pair of Ride Armors rolled up. Kallen's eyes widening as she saw them in the rear-view camera, turning her head on instinct and staring at the rear hatch as if expecting enemy fire to punch through it at that instant.

["Well if it isn't our little Glasgow 'friend'."] Jeremiah jeered as he fired his machine's rifle at the red KMF, barely missing as Kallen sped off around a building, the red Knightmare weaving through the streets as Kallen stared helplessly at its energy filler levels. "Just thirty minutes left…" She choked, she didn't need to imagine what would happen afterwards.

The crackle of her radio issued from the speakers, as if fate had decided she deserved otherwise.

["The West Entrance. Use the tracks to move to the West Entrance of the Ghetto."] A voice, a young man, possibly her age if she was hearing it right, ordered.

"WHO IS THIS!? HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS ENCRYPTION SET?!" She demanded heatedly.

["That doesn't matter, if you wanna survive and _win_ you're just going to have to trust me."] The voice replied, a statement rather than a request.

"To win…?" Before, all she'd been concerned about was _surviving_ this. But now someone was promising _victory_ , a blow to Britannia's prestige that hadn't been inflicted by Japanese since Todoh's Miracle at Itsukushima seven years ago.

Following his orders, she leapt the Glasgow onto the rail line and started following the tracks to the West end of the Ghetto. "Okay… What am I supposed to do now?" She asked as the Sutherlands and Ride Armors followed her.

["You pathetic Eleven. If you simply run away this hunt hasn't much to offer in the way of sport…"] Jeremiah taunted from his Knightmare as he chased after her.

Kallen's eyes widened as she spotted an intra-city use freight train pulling a load of large scale transport rolling stock behind it directly in front of her, the vehicle's brakes screeching as it slowed down. ["Since you trusted me victory will be yours. Jump onto the train!"] The voice ordered.

"Gotcha!" Kallen again activated the electromagnetic repulsor units in the feet of the Glasgow, normally intended to reduce friction to allow the Knightmare to reach high ground speeds over most harder terrains, it also enabled jumping when pulsed at high power and combined with the Frame's powerful leg and landspinner pod servos. The train rammed into Jeremiah's Sutherland at low speed, doing little more than superficial damage as he reversed.

The Glasgow jumped again, smashing part of a transport car's roof as it did so.

Jeremiah narrowed his eyes. _"You think you can get through that way hmmm…?"_ He mused as he turned towards his subordinates. ["If that's your plan then… You! Go after the Glasgow!"] He ordered the other Sutherland, which itself leapt into the air. ["Yes my lord!"] The pilot acknowledged right as his frame was decapitated by a pair of slash harkens flung from a nearby building and sent tumbling off the elevated railway, the Ride Armors stopping and then aiming their weapons at the sudden aggressor.

["What the!?"] Jeremiah exclaimed in utter disbelief. ["Shot by friendly fire?! What's your name and unit, we're after the one-arm-"] He demanded before the other frame raised its AR and started shooting at him, blowing off one of his own frame's arms.

["Oh my god… A terrorist!? And that's… That's **Viletta's** Machine!"] He exclaimed in horrific realization, after glancing at the other Sutherland's Pureblood Faction markings in the viewscreen as his machine went into reverse, the Ride Armors opening fire on Lelouch's Sutherland before C2 dropped down from the building next to it and drove a drill into the head of the Reploid pilot of the rear Ride Armor, the android never noticing his own end as machinery and shell parts were flung in all directions, the other machine turning to shoot her but slumped over as its pilot suddenly found themselves missing their entire _head_ courtesy of a C-Buster shot, sending chills down Jeremiah's spine. ["A Reploid!?"]

Additional fire from Lelouch blew apart the left foot of Jeremiah's Sutherland, causing him to grind to a halt. The frame raising its weapon at the building. ["You son of a-"]

He didn't get a chance to finish as Kallen took that as her opening, the Glasgow racing back up the train and towards Jeremiah's machine. Arm raised to strike.

Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, Jeremiah hit the eject switch, his cockpit pod unlocking from the frame's torso and rocketing away into the distance before Kallen could deal the final blow, parachuting serenely to the ground close to Britannian lines.

Kallen, after collecting herself, turned her head and that of the frame to address her savior. ["You saved me. But how did you get ahold of a Sutherland... And who's your Reploid friend…?"] She asked, only to find both had vanished. ["What… Where'd they go…?"]

As if on que, Ohgi, Tamaki, Minami, and Inoue rushed over. "Kallen! What the hell was that radio message earlier?!" He queried.

The Glasgow's head turned and looked down at them. ["What? He contacted you too?"]

"Sure did, and Yoshida's group oughta be here soon." Ohgi said as his radio began to crackle.

["Are you in charge?"] The voice questioned Ohgi.

"Uh yeah…" Ohgi affirmed, still confused by everything.

There was a thump as C2 landed back down on the top of the locomotive, her left and right arms in their C-Drill and C-Buster forms respectively, a show of force that left the Resistance members intimidated as her visor glinted in the sunlight. ["I present to you the cargo of the train my associate is standing on over there, inside are the tools for your victory. If you want to use them to win, then follow my orders."]

C2 gestured with her left arm for the group to head down the line of freight cars, Kallen opening the third one to reveal a pair of Sutherlands, along with associated armaments and energy fillers inside.

Kallen's eyes widened in awe as she stared at their new weapons.

"There's more in here!" Inoue reported from the fourth car.

"Here too!" somebody replied from further up the line.

"Amazing! Maybe we should give this guy a chance!" Someone else stated.

* * *

"All this… But how…?" Kallen asked herself, glancing at the Reploid standing atop the locomotive.

["Woman in the Glasgow."] The voice said, addressing Kallen directly.

"Y… Yes." She stuttered.

["Stay where you are, you and my associate are going to run decoy, got that? Your codenames will be Q1 and Q2 respectively."] The voice informed her as Kallen looked over at the female Reploid, who seemed indifferent to that if her body language was any indication.

"Understood!" She acknowledged.

* * *

"Energy filler status?" Lelouch asked.

["About fifteen minutes worth!"]

"Then replace it with a fresh unit. In ten minutes I'll contact you with your next instructions." He replied.

Inside the safety of a ruined skyscraper, Lelouch turned off the broadcast of the handheld radio and sighed, closing his eyes as his adrenaline began to run low. "This is wearing me out." He opened his eyes again. "Regardless… I'll need determination to succeed. After all, I'm betting my life in this game." He mused as he fiddled with the Black King piece in his hand.

* * *

Inside the G-1, Bartley gave his report. "The Terrorists are mixed alongside the Eleven populace and are mounting a minor resistance against us, but they pose little threat to our vastly superior army." He stated confidently as the Reploid standing in the shadows of the bridge chuckled derisively at him.

Clovis gave the Reploid a glance, cutting off any further snide remarks, before speaking up. "We know that, moving on."

"Understood your highness. The capsule will be-" Bartley began in response.

"What the public thinks, continue the sweeps with the Guard, and figure out why squad seven hasn't reported in." Clovis stated plainly, cutting his General off.

"Yes, we'll keep searching for her." Bartley clarified, acknowledging his Prince's orders

"Either way, I want her recaptured…" Clovis muttered as he put a hand to his temple.

A gleam issued from the shadowed corner as the Reploid's red eyes glowed dangerously behind his visor. "I can help with that, you'll have to pay me extra if you want me to keep my superiors in the dark though." He stated.

Clovis glanced at him again but said nothing. Like ASEEC this one could wait and watch his victory unfold.

* * *

Ohgi watched the viewscreen for his Sutherland come online, showing Tamaki and some of the others milling about below the frame.

["Hey? Are you certain about this whole thing? They've all had their IFFs removed, what if this is a trap?"] Tamaki suggested as Ohgi sighed and tapped his chin. Tamaki did have a point, but why would the Britannians resort to subterfuge like this if using brute force was working well enough?

"The other side has a total overwhelming advantage in this battle. They don't need to set any traps when they can just bombard us into dust!" He replied, dismantling Tamaki's argument with simple logic as artillery shells shrieked downwards in the distance to punctuate his point. "Alright people let's move, get to your assigned points!" He ordered as the radio crackled again.

["P1 can you move?"] The voice asked. ["It operates basically the same as a Glasgow or MR-1."]

"Can't you tell us who you are?" Ohgi asked, starting to get mildly annoyed. "At least your name!"

["I can't do that."] Their mysterious helper replied. ["What if these signals are being intercepted?"] He posited, leaving Ohgi speechless and mentally smacking himself for not considering that.

"Well given they haven't identified our locations so far it seems we should be thankful the enemy is incompetent…" Ohgi replied.

["Relying on the enemy's incompetence is a fool's way to fight."] The voice replied sagely. ["For now just call me K1."]

"Right... K1 it is then..." Ohgi sighed in acceptance of the situation.

Kallen's Glasgow raced through the streets, C2 sitting atop the frame's cockpit block and kicking her legs idly as she waited for her chance to spring into action. ["Anyway, if Q1 is on schedule with Q2, enemy Sutherlands and Ride Armors, probably two of each of them, will reach you in twenty-three _seconds_."]

"And what you suggest we do when they arrive? We don't have line of sight!" Ohgi responded.

["Just shoot them through the wall when the timer hits zero, your weapons have enough power behind them so that the shells will still penetrate the relatively thin plating of a Sutherland at that range."] K1 informed them.

["Ngah he's out of his mind!"] Tamaki complained as Ohgi lowered the handset radio.

"Everyone, double check your weapons." He ordered.

["What!? Are you serious?!"] Tamaki shouted from below, stunned that Ohgi was going along with it.

* * *

Kallen's Glasgow stopped in the open, C2 leaping off before it left cover and glancing up at a gunship acting in the observer role and waiting for the pursuers.

* * *

"Enemy spotted at point F-31!" An officer in the G-1 reported.

"A feint eh? How pedestrian." Clovis scoffed mockingly.

"Tell Oslo's squad to go straight in! Have Eugen and Valorie strike from the rear with a pair of Ride Armors!" Bartley ordered as the Sutherland and Ride Armor units began to close in around the Glasgow.

* * *

Ohgi's thumb rested gently on the firing switch of his Sutherland's left control stick. "Three… Two… One… Fire!" He ordered as the Resistance Sutherlands opened fire through the wall, tearing into the pair of hapless Sutherlands in the alleyway, their pilots shredded inside their cockpits as 25mm rounds rippied clean through the relatively thin plating and both machines collapsed to the pavement with a metallic groan, red fluids leaking from their ruined cockpit pods.

C2 jumped into the air above the following ride armors and cut their pilots to shreds with two hails of C-Buster shots as she spun, landing on the street before taking off towards the south.

* * *

"Sir Eugen and Sir Valorie both lost! No ejection confirmed, believed KIA, both following ride armors have lost pilot telemetry!" An officer reported.

The Reploid whistled as Clovis gazed on in shock. "An ambush." He whispered, stunned by this turn of events.

* * *

Lelouch chuckled to himself as he held the Black Knight piece in his hand. _"An IFF signal can be a double-edged sword if your enemy somehow obtains access to your tactical systems. Besides, if the terrorists can follow the orders I issue, my task at hand is sure to be completed."_

"P1, P4, P7, move a hundred meters to the right and fire your slash harkens towards three o'clock." He ordered.

"You heard him! Do what the voice says!" Ohgi said, ceding operational command to their shadowy ally.

"Damn… What else does he want us to do?" Tamaki asked as he stood on the opened cockpit seat of his Sutherland.

["P5, ready?"] The voice asked. "Ngh… Quit calling me that." Tamaki groused, this codename crap was getting old fast.

The Sutherlands turned and fired their slash harkens, catching more Britannian units off guard and knocking down yet more enemy Knightmares, some pilots ejecting, others trapped in the twisted heaps that their frames had become.

* * *

"The enemy's moving towards point G-28"

Bartley began to sweat. "Send Lazlow squad, I mean Glaube squad!" He ordered, panicking now.

"This means… Terrorists have some of our weaponry…" Clovis realized as the Reploid clapped slowly.

"Look at the special boy he figured it out~" The Reploid taunted with a whisper as a Guardsman moved towards him before backing off as a large shoulder cannon swiveled to face the man. "Back off buddy, even your beloved Prince won't shed a tear over a man with a death wish." He warned, narrowing his glowing red eyes as the man fled to the far corner of the bridge.

* * *

Kallen used her Frame's working Slash harken to aid her ascent to the top of an old office complex, her Glasgow dashing forwards and punching an enemy Sutherland in its factsphere sensor while it was trying to scan, toppling the machine as its cockpit ejected.

* * *

"Sir Glaube has ejected! His unit's been lost!"

"Change our codes, they're intercepting our transmissions!" Bartley ordered furiously.

"We already have sir! _Four_ times!" An officer replied, as he checked over the code sets.

"Do it _again_!" Bartley barked at him.

"We're _trying_! If they have our weapons it means our new encryption codes are likely being transmitted to them as well!"

"Well find the serials of the units that they're using and cut them from the system then!" The General yelled.

"Mechaniloid armor platoons twenty-four and twenty-five in addition to their escorting Ride Armor and infantry units have been totally wiped out by an unidentified S-rank Maverick!" Another officer reported.

"What do you mean Dame Nu still hasn't responded to hails!?"

The Reploid was laughing his ass off now as Clovis stood up in a fury. " **THIS FAILURE IS UNACCEPTABLE!** "

"Mmhn… Forgive me…" Bartley said apologetically as Lloyd's face popped up on screen.

["Good afternoon~!"] The Earl of Pudding greeted rather loudly for Clovis's taste.

"What is it!? We're in the middle of an operation!" Bartley snarled as the Reploid started laughing his ass off again at the sheer chaos the G-1 had descended into.

["I'd say it's time to deploy the ASEEC's special weapon!"] Lloyd urged the Prince.

"We have no time for this right now!" Clovis shouted as he strode forwards towards the command table.

["Very well then, we'll remain on standby for when you need us!"] Lloyd stated before hanging up on them.

* * *

"P5, aim for the center of the left side under the turret, that's where part of the ammo stowage should be." With a clack, a black pawn set down on an arm console in the Sutherland's cockpit.

A Britannian M60 tank's HEAT shells cooked off as a burst of rounds punctured through the side of the vehicle, jets of flame blowing out the turret hatches and the bustle's blowoff panels as the driver scrambled to get clear of the vehicle.

"R2, fire anchor at the first Cobra." Lelouch ordered as he moved the Black Rook onto the right-hand arm console in his Sutherland's cockpit.

A slash harken swung up from the ground and punctured the midsection of an AV-1 Cobra that had been finishing up a rocket run, the canopy blew off as the pilot and gunner ejected, their doomed aircraft falling from the sky with the grace of a hailstone. The wingman of the downed VTOL attacking the offending Knightmare with his own ordnance in response.

"B7, use UN ordnance!" He placed the Black Bishop down as well.

A single 25mm shot tore through the roof of a Britannian field command APC, the human and Reploid infantry guarding it scattering.

"N group, you'll continue your advance." He stated as he held up the Black Knight piece.

N group's pilots let out a battle cry as they continued their charge towards a group of fleeing Britannian Sutherlands, pincering them between two groups of Resistance Knightmares, all four being destroyed within seconds, the Knightmares collapsing to the ground as smoke wafted from their motors and energy filler compartments.

"Q2, continue your independent action and draw off as many of the Mechaniloids and ride armors as possible, but keep an eye on your energy levels."

C2 impaled a steel I-beam into a spider tank Mechaniloid's central processor with a well-placed shot on the side of a damaged building, sending the structural beam crashing into the machine, before leaping onto a ride armor and tossing the pilot out, the Reploid flying into the side of an abandoned department store and falling to the ground.

Lelouch frowned as he looked at the line of units that C2 was downing, she was an absolute brute in a close quarters brawl, as despite her slim frame she was insanely strong, but there was also little to no subtlety with her at all, and while she was durable it was only a matter of time until her energy levels drained to the point she'd be easy prey for an enemy to take down.

* * *

"We just lost Lazlow's squad!"

"Alright then! Bring up Quincy's squad!" Clovis ordered to Bartley's shock, the General realizing that this is what their enemy wanted them to do.

"Mechaniloid Platoon Twenty-Three has been demolished, the remainder of the escorts are retreating! Armor Company Six-Eight is laying down smoke and withdrawing!"

"My lord, that will break the encirclement!" He warned as status updates continued to pour in.

* * *

Lelouch grinned. "The enemy has five options… Their move, for the sake of your men, you'd better not disappoint me dear brother."

* * *

"Reinforce the breach with some of the units guarding me, all we know for certain is that the enemy forces are here!" Clovis ordered hastily.

* * *

Jeremiah watched, dumbfounded, as Sutherlands, Liverpools, Tanks, APCs, and Ride Armors rolled by on their landspinners as he walked back the Britannian rear lines from the landing site of his cockpit pod. "What idiot ordered them to break formation…" He murmured softly as a pair of infantrymen rushed over to them after one of the APCs stopped nearby and disembarked them.

"Lord Jeremiah!" One of the men shouted at him as they trooped over.

"Private, what in the name of Darwin is going on here!?" He asked incredulously.

"Prince Clovis ordered the encirclement to be broken and for the Knightmares and Ride Armors to rush the enemy formation in the center of the Ghetto!"

" **WHAT!** "

* * *

Lelouch stared at the massed troop movements on his Sutherland's tactical screens. "Well that's an even stupider move than I expected… Then _again_ this is Clovis. Even _Nunnally_ is a better tactician than him…" He picked up the handset again. "You, Q1. Do you have an area map?" He questioned.

["Yes, I have a map of the old town, but it has no current landmarks."] She replied.

Lelouch's grin widened as a plan formed in his head. "Does it have the Subway system on it?"

["Yeah... Why...?"]

His grin now took up a substantial portion of his face "Because I have a plan."

* * *

Aboard the G-1, Bartley could only contain his horror as Clovis turned to him. "Alright send in Bertz and the others too!" He ordered excitedly as their Reploid 'guest' slammed his palm against his helmet but said nothing.

* * *

"Mission number three now." Lelouch began.

* * *

"Concentrate our forces there, surround them!" Clovis urged, almost jumping into the air.

* * *

"Is everything prepared?" Lelouch asked as he counted down the seconds mentally, watching the Britannian troops begin to concentrate.

 _"Poor bastards..."_ He thought, they may be the enemy, but they deserved better than to have an incompetent commanding them.

Oh well, such was war.

"You should've stuck to painting Clovis." He taunted as he waited for them to gather in great enough numbers.

* * *

"The enemy's main force is that center dot!" Clovis grinned, feeling victory was assured as a pit grew in Bartley's stomach, knowing his liege had just made one of the dumbest tactical mistakes he possibly could have made as he remembered that that entire area had been rejected as a staging ground for the G1 due to the number of tunnels that ran under it.

* * *

The Britannian Knightmares and Ride Armors roared into the plaza from all avenues, finding only eachother as VTOL units circled cluelessly overhead.

* * *

"WHAT! WHERE'S THE ENEMY!" Clovis demanded as the pit in Bartley's stomach deepened even further.

"Oh _no_." Bartley whispered.

* * *

The Resistance Sutherlands and Kallen's Glasgow rolled through the underground subway tunnels, the Red Knightmare stopping and turning to aim its sole working slash harken.

* * *

A wry smile graced Lelouch's face. "With this…" He put the Black King down as well. "I call check. You lose Clovis." He stated smugly as he waited for Q1 to perform her end of the plan, sending a single squawk on the radio to let her know it was time.

* * *

Kallen fired her slash harken into the ceiling, directly into a support beam, before retracting it, weakening the already damaged and decayed structure enough to cause it to collapse, the loss of support causing a cascading failure in the levels above, the Glasgow sped off at top speed as it began to cave in, taking most of the Britannian Sutherlands, Mechaniloids, Liverpools and Ride Armors assembling on the surface down with it along with several nearby buildings as the tanks and APCs towards the outer edge barely escaped, an immense cloud of dust erupting into the sky as the VTOLs and flying Mechaniloids scattered to avoid becoming victims of FOD ingestion into their engines.

* * *

In the G-1 Bartley and Clovis stared in utter horror as dozens of men and Reploids perished before their very eyes.

* * *

On the border wall between the Settlement and the Shinjuku ghetto, X, Zero, and the recently arrived Sigma stared in shock as they watched VTOLs and flying Mechaniloids scatter in all directions whilst several more buildings sank into the earth in the distance, enlarging the growing cloud of dust.

"What in the name of…" X gasped, horrified as he began estimating the potential death toll.

Sigma simply chuckled under his breath. _"So... A new player... I'll hold back for now to see how this turns out. Keeping up this act is getting annoying but I can deal with_ _it._ _I might be able to manipulate the plans of whoever it is for my own ends if I play my cards right."_

* * *

Inside his Sutherland Lelouch began cackling with demented glee, he hadn't fully expected the plan to work at all, let alone _this_ well. "My plan worked! Didn't it! I can do it! I can! I can defeat Britannia!" He shouted excitedly as he watched the plume rise into the sky.

* * *

On the G-1 Clovis took a couple steps back. _"Who… Who in the hell am I up against?! What if… He's even better than Todoh!? Perhaps on par with Cornelia or Colonel!"_

"Lloyd!" Clovis snapped.

"Yes, your highness?" The Earl of Pudding responded promptly as he picked up, as if expecting this from the beginning.

"Can it win?" He asked simply, not caring about the technical specs or anything else. "Will your toy beat them?"

"My lord, please be so kind as to call it Lancelot." Lloyd crooned.

Clovis wheeled about and glared at the Reploid. "And you! You'll get your pay, now get out there and knock down that Maverick that's shredding what's left of our southern flank!"

The Reploid stepped out of the shadows, his Violet, gold and white armor gleaming in the light.

"I'm fairly certain I know exactly _who's_ so hot and bothered to cut your troops apart right now, so I'm 'duty bound' to destroy them regardless of how much you're paying me now, I'll be sure to hand over her wreckage to you for whatever you people want it for." Vile stated as he rolled his shoulders before heading to the bridge elevator. "Later." He said flippantly with an idle toss of his hand as the doors shut.

* * *

Outside the G-1, now protected by little more than a few armored fighting vehicles and a handful of Liverpools and Sutherlands, the ASEEC trailer switched to deployment mode as Cecile took the role of Suzaku's operator. ["Z-01 Lancelot now moving to deployment mode. Lancelot activating… Releasing hatch. Z-01 Lancelot standby for deployment, power extension initiated… Did you read the manual?"] She asked Suzaku as he put on the Lancelot's special devicer uniform.

"Pretty much." He replied over his headset as he zipped the uniform up inside the medical vehicle.

["Well done. You scored at the top of the candidates in the simulator."]

"Hey look, about what you told me earlier…"

["Huh… It could be, but the possibility is nearly zero."] She replied.

"But that means there's still a chance, right?" Suzaku noted hopefully.

["Yes, I guess that's true. Even so, you're not to do anything reckless, the current cockpit module is not outfitted with an ejection mechanism as _someone_ decided to put an enlarged data collection system in instead."] Cecile stated, putting extra emphasis on the 'someone' as Lloyd whistled innocently.

"Okay, I understand Miss Cecile."

As he strode up to the Lancelot, the tarp covering it was released and allowed to blow away in the wind, likely by Lloyd for dramatic effect. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a custom ride armor launch from the G-1 and head off into the Ghetto, but thought little of it, too enthralled by the sight of the Z-01.

"Woah… That's it…"

["Yes. The advanced weapon developed by us in Prince Schneizel's Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps… The Z-01 Lancelot, the world's _first_ operational Seventh Generation Knightmare Frame."]

["Well if you're ready Suzaku shall we proceed with startup?"] Lloyd asked somewhat energetically.

["Initial startup now proceeding from phase twenty."] Cecile reported as the Knightmare's energy filler was loaded onboard. ["Equipping energy filler."]

Chatter filled the airwaves as Suzaku sat down in the Lancelot's cockpit, the seat sliding forwards into the cockpit pod and sealing up, the whir of the energy filler loading mechanisms rumbling in the background..

The internal lights came on, Suzaku inserting the activation key shortly thereafter and typing in the Lancelot's startup code.

"So far it's going per the data." Lloyd noted as the Lancelot continued going through its cold startup procedure. The medical trucks vacating the premises as the Lancelot closed in on its launch sequence.

The launch platform footpads slid outwards, the Z-01 doing a split and getting into a launch ready stance. Soon followed by its landspinners deploying and the supplementary power cables detaching.

"Lancelot… Activating ME boost!" Suzaku announced as he revved up the Knightmare.

The Yggdrasil drive of the Lancelot spun up as did the wheels of its landspinners.

["Lancelot! Launch!"]

The Z-01 shot forwards at high speed, Britannian soldiers, Reploids and officers watching it race away, leaving a trail of dust behind it.

Inside the ASEEC trailer, Lloyd laughed, having been knocked flat on his ass by the ME boost's shockwave, Cecile laying on the floor next to him, herself having ducked for cover. "Running full throttle right out of the gate! I like him!"

Cecile glanced at Lloyd as they got up. "Are you sure he'll be alright?"

Lloyd shrugged at her. "I'm not entirely certain, we've never had an assigned Devicer long enough to worry about exposure to that much activated Sakuradite in close proximity." He observed. "Hopefully it doesn't end poorly otherwise we'll have to scrap poor Lancelot."

Cecile opened to her mouth to clarify what she'd actually but decided against it.

* * *

Inside the cockpit, Suzaku was amazed by the speed and responsiveness of the Lancelot. "Better than the manual describes it… Ngh…" He clutched at his gut, wondering if he'd been jumping the gun doing this with his injury.

Regardless, he pushed on.

The ever-hapless Tamaki was his first victim, not even comprehending what was approaching him at high speed, by the time he could finish a sentence the Z-01 had already decapitated his Sutherland and had soon sent his cockpit roaring away.

* * *

Lelouch chuckled as he watched his forces advance on the G-1. "Another push and the first checkpoint will fall, leaving only the primary defense lines…" He purred as he watched the tactical feeds, the Sutherland was certainly no G-1 of his own but it was workable.

["K1 this is B group, reporting new enemy presence!"]

"Hmm? Reinforcements? Well, real battle is different from chess now isn't it…" Lelouch picked up the handset and switched to B group's channel. "Status."

["Everyone ejected, but they've taken out four units in nothing flat!"]

"Enemy numbers?" Lelouch frowned, this was starting to worry him, he anticipated casualties of course but to lose four units, a full third of his Knightmares, in such a brief period was something he hadn't expected at this phase of the battle.

["Just one! I think it's a new model. Never seen anything like _aagh!_ -"] The report cut off into static as Lelouch frowned, his brief surprise turning to anger at this upset.

"What's happening out there B group?! Respond!" He demanded, getting only static in response.

* * *

The Lancelot watched the Resistance Sutherland's cockpit eject and fly off, activating its Blaze Luminous shield as two more units opened fire, the shells bouncing clean off.

* * *

"What!? It's reflecting your rifle fire!?" Lelouch queried, stunned. _"Are they desperate enough to be fielding a testbed unit?!"_

Any confirmation Lelouch would've gotten was cut off as the reporting unit was destroyed as well.

" _Useless so-called Terrorists… I'll have to sic C2 on whoever's cutting them apart at this rate…"_ He thought, only to have that plan dashed as well.

["K1 this is Q2… I'm engaging another Reploid… He appears to be a fire support model… My weapons are having no effect on him"] The Reploid reported before crying out as an explosion went off.

"Q2 report!"

["I'm fine… But this he's different… He's calling me a maverick… What does that mean?"] She asked, confused.

" _Called her a Maverick… He's immune to her fire, a high end maverick hunter then... And if he's keeping up with her in battle… He must be one of the officers from Sigma's 17th Elite Unit! Plus... If it's a fire support model…!"_ Of all the possible ways this could've gotten worse, he had to end up facing down a veteran A-Rank maverick hunter as well, one who'd earned an infamous reputation for being willing to endanger innocent lives if he felt the price was worth a ready shot at taking down his target…

"Q2, withdraw immediately! Lose him now or he'll cut you apart!" Lelouch ordered in a panic.

["Roger… I'll try."] She replied before cutting off the channel.

Lelouch grunted and turned his mind to other concerns, such as figuring out how supposedly one machine was tearing his forces apart.

* * *

C2 fired her leg boosters again, leaping onto another building as she fired her C-Buster at Vile, the burst bouncing off his armor, having already destroyed his ride armor by dropping part of an office complex onto it.

"Come here you!" Vile snarled as his hands retracted into his forearms, a pair of six barreled vulcan guns emerging in their place and spooling up before opening fire with a deafening roar.

C2 jumped and twirled through the air while rounds cratered concrete, dented metal and shattered wood, drywall and windows behind her, always keeping step ahead of the Maverick Hunter's ability to track her.

"Perhaps you should learn how to lead a target." She taunted emotionlessly as several trees exploded into splinters behind her as she landed on the street.

"Somebody has a smart-ass chip fitted." Vile retorted as his shoulder cannon let loose a triple shot salvo, collapsing what was left of an old FamilyMart convenience store as C2 narrowly avoided being hit by the artillery shells by leaping into the air and landing atop what had once been part of an arcade.

"Are you a fire support unit or a defective fireworks display?" She snarked as she fired a salvo of C-Buster shots, once again to no effect, before leaping into the air diving down on him with her C-Drill active and boosters blazing away.

Vile dodged to the side and opened his knee plates, sending a pair of napalm bombs flying at her. C2 swatted them away with her arm before firing a buster shot at the ground and sending up a cloud of dust and smoke as the bombs exploded, enabling her to evade and hide inside an abandoned Arcade.

"Clever girl. But not clever enough!" Vile said, his eyes gleaming red through the smoke, which scattered their light eerily.

Even as an equally tough Reploid, C2 had to admit that her opponent was unnerving and persistent despite being a total jackass.

He was also far more experienced then she was and C2 doubted he was doing anything more than toying with her.

Moreover she was having issues maintaining her energy supply after a sizable amount of it earlier, her internal solar reactor's cooling system wasn't running as effectively as it should because those idiots at Code R had taken it apart to study and failed to put it back together correctly, she'd have to regulate her energy accordingly, hence why she was venting so much of her power into buster shots to regulate the rising temperature.

At least, she _thought_ that was working.

"Found you!" He laughed before sending an energy blast blazing out from his shoulder cannon after switching firing modes, followed up by a pair of missiles from his arm launchers after retracting the vulcans.

C2 rolled away, the beam carved through the arcade after her and cut some of the surviving game machine casings to shreds as she ran out into the street. The female Reploid firing her buster repeatedly to intercept the incoming warheads and then promptly targeting the Maverick Hunter himself, the shots bouncing off Vile's armor as he fired another pair of Napalm bombs from his knees, immolating nearby corpses and plant life, and turning a long-looted storefront into a raging inferno.

She jetted to the side and then charged towards him, both of her arms in C-Drill mode.

Vile leaned back and used her momentum against her, flipping C2 over him and into the base of an old skyscraper with faded decade old Japanese advertisements peeling off it.

Had either been paying attention they would have noticed the spot on her arms where Vile grabbed her for the flip had briefly taken on the Maverick Hunter's color scheme.

"Is that the best you've got you amateur? For the love of... That's the _same_ model of Mega Buster that _X_ has and you're not even bothering to charge it!?" He exclaimed as he loomed over C2, aiming one of his vulcan guns at her as she swapped her right arm to buster mode again while rolling onto her back.

She looked down at her weapon before the barrel tip began to glow as she commanded it to built up energy, a loud vweeming noise accompanying it, Vile reeling back as he realized his error as the charge built up.

"Oh right, never interrupt the enemy when _they're_ making a mistake... God fucking _damnittttt_!" Vile swore as she unleashed a charged shot directly into his face, the blast flinging him across the street and into the ruins of a restaurant.

Panting as she tried to cool her internal components, she turned and jetted away before Vile could recover, following the ID tag of the cockpit unit from the old Glasgow belonging to Q1.

She also noticed the number of Britannian IFFs closing in on it.

" _Better hurry…"_

* * *

Elsewhere things were going _horribly_ for the Resistance, their mysterious leader had vanished after engaging the unknown Knightmare and hadn't been heard from since. And as Kallen made her way into one of the safehouses from her Glasgow's ejected cockpit pod after that same KMF had shredded her trusted Frame, she heard the rumbling of Tanks and IFVs in the distance, while they had knocked out most of Clovis's mobile troops, the conventional forces still vastly outnumbered them, not to mention the fact their air support still existed in force.

Once inside it got even worse.

Glancing around she saw only pandemonium, several civilians were already blaming them for the death and destruction, not like the Britannians wouldn't have found another excuse to level their homes, over the din it was almost impossible to make out what people were saying.

Tamaki naturally was riled up and looked ready to hit someone with the stock of his SMG.

And then a Britannian MBT rammed one of the doors down and rolled inside, crushing the people who'd been on watch underneath the metal sheet, infantrymen and Reploids fanning out around it as dark red fluid oozed out from under the crushed door. "So, this is where you Eleven _vermin_ scurried off to." The Tank commander sneered as he gazed around the warehouse after popping out of his hatch. The man raised his right arm. "Prepare to fire!" He ordered.

And then the _ceiling_ burst in and the sound of groaning metal issued through the warehouse as dust filled the air, obscuring what was going on.

"What…" Kallen murmured before the tank commander screamed and there was an impossibly loud crash, following by the crackling of gunfire, more screaming, plenty of grunts, the sound of drills whirring, and the horrifying mixed noises of flesh, plastic and metal tearing. When the smoke cleared the blue painted M60 was shoved into a wall, it's engine and weapons rendered inoperable by damage, the crew of the vehicle dragging away their wounded commander as the surviving infantrymen and Reploids did the same with their own number. The gory remains of several Britannian infantrymen and the shattered shells of Reploids were scattered about around a very _familiar_ looking, blood and gore covered Reploid.

C2 turned her head to stare at the assembled Japanese and the civilian Reploids from behind her bloodstained violet tinted visor, blood and oil covered C-drills spooling down to a halt as wreckage and gore laid around her, the Reploid seemingly uncaring about the fact she'd _shoved_ a 60-ton _main battle tank_ into a wall, although it had clearly strained her systems as several sparks issued from her elbow, knee and shoulder joints as voltage leapt from now exposed wires into the air.

Nobody said a word about how in mere _seconds_ she'd just wiped out nearly a dozen men and Reploids, in addition to a _tank_.

"I had more trouble with the combat grade heavy-class Mechaniloids…" She mumbled as she pulled some intestines off her left-hand C-Drill and tossed it aside before retracting the appendage.

A whistling noise issued from the distance, causing C2 to turn and look out the door before she was sent flying towards the crowd by an explosion, Vile stomping into the warehouse soon after, backed by yet more Britannian troops and Reploid soldiers, in addition to two more tanks and one of the few still operational Sutherlands.

The screaming and pandemonium promptly started up again as the Japanese huddled together.

"Pathetic, you lot do whatever you want to the Elevens, the Maverick is mine." Vile snorted as he aimed his shoulder cannon and arm vulcans at C2 while the Britannians leveled their coilarms at the Japanese.

"Naoto..." Kallen cried softly, aware that she was about to join her brother in the afterlife.

"Ready! Commen-"

["Attention all forces! **Cease fire** at once!"] Prince Clovis's voice echoed loudly over every radio in the Ghetto, shocking the Resistance members and Britannian forces alike.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Vile complained as he leered at C2, whom slowly got up and shakily aimed her C Buster at him before lowering the weapon, panting as she vented her built up heat in a visible haze rolling off her body.

["I, Clovis la Britannia, Third Prince of Britannia and Royal Viceroy of Area 11 hereby **command** you! All forces are ordered to **cease fire** at once, you will also cease destruction of any buildings and property! **All** casualties, whether Britannian, Reploid, or Eleven, shall be treated **equally** and **without** prejudice! In the name of Clovis la Britannia you are hereby **ordered** , cease fire at once, I shall allow **no** further fighting!"]

Vile kicked the dirt and glowered at them. "How many times do you need tell people to cease fire?! He said it like three times!" The Maverick hunter pointed at C2. "You and me, this isn't over you little… You're lucky that a Britannian Prince said he doesn't want any further fighting or I'd turn your little ass to scrap!" He turned and stalked out of the warehouse as the confused Britannian forces and Japanese idled about, C2 blinking at him as he left before glancing around and hopping onto the disabled tank and leaping out of the hole she'd entered from.

She didn't doubt that he was capable of following up on his threat.

* * *

Aboard the command bridge of the G-1, Clovis frowned after making his speech as the lights turned out. "Are you satisfied?" He asked, he still wasn't sure what parlor trick had made everyone else leave the bridge, or to allow someone this far in to his defense line to allow such trickery, but he would have Bartley's head for this later.

"Very, well done." His assailant replied.

Clovis rested his head on his right hand. "And what shall we do now, sing a few lively ballads, or perhaps a nice game of _chess_?" He asked mockingly.

"That has a _familiar_ ring." The terrorist wearing the stolen uniform said as he walked up to the prince and began to take off his helmet.

"Hmm?" Clovis raised an eyebrow, mildly off-put by that last statement. And as the young man before him tossed the helmet aside he felt an odd sense of… Familiarity.

"Don't you recall?" The insurgent asked, keeping his weapon trained on Clovis. "The two of us used to play chess together as _boys_."

This started to give Clovis some measure of concern, there were very few people he had played chess with as a child, most of them were his _siblings_...

"Of course." He continued. "I would _always_ win."

"What…" Clovis breathed as the man before him flicked the safety of the pistol off. _"It can't be… He was reported_ dead _during the invasion, but if it_ is _him…"_

"You remember, at the Aries Villa? Whenever I beat you, you'd always throw a tantrum about it, at least until you got older and turned to art because it was your strong suit..."

"You… Who are you?" Clovis breathed.

His assailant stepped into the limited light, violet eyes glinting like those of a predator. "It's been a long time _big brother_."

Clovis's eyes widened like dinner plates. _"Lelouch!? But how!? Why!?"_

"The eldest child of the late Empress Marianne and Seventeenth Prince in the Imperial Line of Succession, Lelouch vi Britannia, at your _service_." His younger brother announced, kneeling before him in a mocking manner.

Alarm bells rang in Clovis's head, warning him that this was a dangerous situation and that if his brother was doing all this, then Lelouch surely had ill intentions for him. "Lelouch!? B… But I thou-"

"That I was dead? You were **wrong**." His brother replied calmly, too calmly. "I have returned, _your highness_. And I've come back to change _everything_."

The fight or flight instinct at the back of the Third Prince's head was telling him that he should run for his life, but part of him knew hew would die with a bullet in the back of his brainstem if he tried.

* * *

Outside the G-1, the Japanese walked out of the Ghetto as the sun set, to the consternation of the Britannian forces watching them, who were generally at this point increasingly concerned about their Prince rather than a bunch of Elevens now as the realization that Clovis was _alone_ , on the bridge of his own G-1, began to spread. C2 watching the land cruiser from atop a nearby building, unlike the others, she was waiting for Lelouch. After all she had no place to rendezvous with him and didn't even know where he lived either.

"… He's the kind of person who'd make someone wait isn't he…" She muttered, bored out of her mind now that the fighting had ended, as she kicked her legs and watched the people below her scurry about.

All the Britannian aerial units had long since RTB'd due to being low on fuel and wouldn't return anyways so she had little concern of being spotted, as she sincerely doubted anyone would look up at this point unless one of the Japanese or a Reploid started shooting.

* * *

"I… I'm overjoyed Lelouch." Clovis stuttered, his actor's façade falling apart with the special circumstance of having a pistol shoved in his face, Lelouch having gotten up and crossed the distance between them while Clovis processed what was going on. "They said you died when Japan was brought into the fold… What a blessing to have you back, we should depart for the homeland immediately." He said nervously, it took all of his will not to devolve into stuttering.

As he said those words, Clovis contemplated what was going on. _"If Lelouch was alive all this time… why_ didn't _he come back…"_

"So you can use me as a tool of diplomacy? It seems you've forgotten why Nunnally and I were used as tools in the first place." His brother icily responded.

Clovis's eyes widened as the danger of the situation became fully realized.

"That's right… It's because my mother was killed." Lelouch said. "Mother held the title of Knight of Honor and was nominally the Empress due to our father's favor, but she was also a commoner by birth. No doubt the other consorts, being of noble birth, held her in contempt." Lelouch's tone changed to one of barely restrained anger. "Even though you people made it look like the work of terrorists, I'm no _fool_! **You people** killed my mother!" He snarled.

"It wasn't me! I swear to you it wasn't!" Clovis denied feverishly. _"I never held ill will towards Marianne! You know this Lelouch! Why target me!?"_

"Then tell me everything you know; the truth cannot be hidden from me any longer." Lelouch replied as he called upon his Geass for the latest time that day.

"By whose hand was she slain?" He asked, the Power of the King seizing control of Clovis's mind to force him to speak everything he knew.

Clovis visibly relaxed as he entered the Geass trance. "I know little beyond what is publicly acknowledged, my Brother, Second Prince Schneizel and my sister, Second Princess Cornelia, were far closer to the investigation than I was, if they know who is responsible or if they were involved, they can tell you…"

His eyes widened. "Were they at the heart of this…?" Lelouch asked and was disappointed by a lack of a response from Clovis. "I see, that's all you know, isn't it…?"

" _Why would Cornelia kill my mother though… She idolized her… That leaves Schneizel, but he lacks the motive, or so I think…"_ Lelouch grimaced, it would be difficult to get to the Second Prince, regardless, he assumed Cornelia would have conducted her own investigation into the attack, so he still needed to get to her as well.

He released Clovis from his Geass, his elder brother returning to his panicked state. "Please! I had nothing to do with it I swear!" He cried out, unaware of the fact he'd just been Geassed into telling Lelouch everything he knew.

"I believe you." Lelouch lowered his gun, before raising it again, aiming it at the center of Clovis's forehead. "However, I cannot in good faith let you live after what happened today, after your own Guard attempted to murder me _twice_ , killed a close _friend_ of mine and your troops slaughtered _hundreds_ of innocent people on your orders... All over a _single_ Reploid, whom you decided to _enslave_ and _torture_ for your own gain. Nor can I simply allow you to report my survival to the **_Emperor_**." He said icily, a devilish smirk on his face, practically spitting that last word out.

"Please! You can't! We may have different mothers, but you and I are still blood!" Clovis implored futilely.

"You can't change the world without dirtying your hands a little… It's just not how reality works. Besides isn't this what _that man_ **wants** us to do?" Lelouch replied darkly and he slowly pulled the trigger, Clovis screaming in terror.

That single gunshot would be heard around the world.

* * *

Later, as Lelouch walked back to the settlement after eluding the Britannian troops who'd entered the G-1, he heard a whoosh of air being displaced as C2 landed behind him.

"It took you long enough…" C2 remarked dryly as she checked her energy levels.

He waved dismissively at her. "Let's head back to Ashford Academy." He stated as he continued walking without missing a step.

"Why should I, the situation is resolved.' She replied as he stopped and smirked at her.

"Oh now, explain to me what plans you have to avoid the Maverick Hunters and the Britannian military while taking care of your logistical needs?"

She said nothing for a minute or two as she mulled her options. "You present a compelling argument... Where is Ashford by the way?"

"I'll find a secure terminal for you to download a map when we get to the settlement… By the way you'll need a cover for when you're staying with us, I'll have you registered as a personal assistant to me, as other options would require additional paperwork or could end up blowing your cover." He stopped for a moment, considering his options before glancing back at C2 as most of her armor glowed and vanished, changing back to civilian mode.

"And what do you suggest for that…?" She inquired as she inspected herself for any damage, noting her auto-repair systems were working on the stress damage her limbs had incurred while shoving the tank, although they were still unable to repair the more serious and lasting damage done to her by Code R's hapless technicians, who'd been over their heads in working on something as complicated as her.

"How do you feel about recordkeeping?" He asked. "Ashford has several Reploids on its staff already, but Milly chased away the student in charge of keeping our financial records organized about two weeks ago by accident, so we need a replacement of some kind. You'll be paid as per legal requirements but won't be considered a student so you'll have more freedom with your spare time. Either way you can use the money for whatever since I doubt you'd want to stay cooped up like an introvert if my suspicions are correct." Lelouch explained.

"That is workable, I'd have had to physically harm you if you'd said housekeeping." The Reploid replied.

He chuckled as the two of them began the long walk back to the settlement while the sun set to the west. "I'm going to warn you, you're probably going to end up wearing a girl's school uniform."

"Why?"

"Because Milly mandates that everyone who holds some position on the student council, even if as an adjutant like yourself, wears either a faculty uniform or a school uniform." He said in exasperation. "Given we've never had a Reploid working with us before she's just going to use whatever one makes you look more attractive."

She frowned. "Your friend sounds... Unusual."

"Oh I know." He informed her with a smirk on his face.

* * *

 **August 16, 2017 ATB. O'Hare field, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

In the early hours of the morning, a Britannian C-123 Provider landed on the tarmac at the Airfield near the Viceroy's palace, the chubby, forward swept, high mounted wings of the airlifter looming like some vast bird of prey as it slowed to a crawl before taxiing off the runway and parking on the tarmac, its turbines spooling down once it came to a halt.

The rear cargo ramp of the plane lowered and a towering Reploid in resplendent white, black and red armor with gold trimming stepped out, a smaller female Reploid with a similarly colored flextanium uniform and several higher-end combat model Reploids following him.

"Brother… Are you sure we shouldn't have informed anyone of our arrival?" She asked.

"We're here because the Emperor diverted us _personally_ from Princess Cornelia's Campaign in the Middle East to keep an eye on the situation in Area 11 following Prince Clovis's death. The purists would also have made a huge stink about it given their dislike of Reploids in general, and their absolute hatred for us Repliforce members. It would also have caused all of the insurgents to go to ground the moment they found out about us." Her elder brother replied.

"But… Colonel… I…" Iris stopped herself, deciding her reservations were irrelevant for now.

"Iris… I know you and Euphemia are friends and that you want to stay in contact with her. But we have a job to do here… I want you to investigate that Maverick they registered being encountered by Lieutenant 'Vile' of the 17th. So, I need you to contact Commander Sigma at the local Maverick Hunter office and offer our aid in locating and subduing this threat." He turned to the others.

"The rest of you are to protect Prince Clovis's transport convoy, I have no doubt that idiot Gottwald will try something, he was thoroughly humiliated by a Number yesterday and will likely attempt to use the chaos surrounding the Prince's death for a political advantage of some kind, especially since Bartley is an ideal scapegoat and he is to accompany the Prince's casket en-route for transport to the homeland." Colonel explained, the Repliforce soldiers saluting before marching off, surprising several IBAF ground crews as they entered waiting APCs and headed out.

"And what will you do…?" Iris asked as she turned to walk towards a waiting staff car.

"Simple, I'll give the Purists a choice, play nice and roll over. Or Repliforce will _run_ them over." Colonel stated, a dark smirk on his face as his sister walked away and he turned to wait for the other squads to arrive.

* * *

 **AN: Honestly Iris and Colonel are basically the Reploid counterparts to Euphie and Cornelia, despite the former two predating the latter two by about a decade IRL.**

 **Also, yes, Iris is wearing the same colors as Colonel, along with a crush cap of her own because it looks adorable on her. It helps attribute them as siblings thematically and I figure it works as a Repliforce officer's color scheme.**

 **On an unrelated note based on extrapolation of the scene in Episode 11 where C.C. mind-rapes Suzaku with her code _through the Lancelot_ and scenes of General in his boss battle from Megaman X4. General is the size of a goddamn _Knightmare Frame_ and I don't even.**

 **Also regarding my interpretation of Vile's arm vulcans.**

 **Screw the fingers are guns trope.**

 **Especially when they're supposed to be _automatic weapons_.**


	3. Stage 3: Welcome to Ashford

**AN: Crappy Political Intrigue and Unusual Racism is a go!**

 **Also as for the technology stuff… Yeah still figuring out how to adapt different steps in the timeline related to military equipment like tanks and aircraft.**

 **Now for some backstory explanation.**

 **Reploids are generally sort of a thing that everyone uses, but Cain realized how easily they could be abused early on after Sigma, the first of the high-end Reploids in this timeline, was built and fled the Britannian homeland to Australia, taking X, Sigma, and most of his data with him.**

 **Thus the Australian government doles out Reploid technology roughly equally to appease the various superpowers but keeping the ability to repair and produce the most advanced stuff internally due to fear of a massed Maverick uprising a la X1/Maverick Hunter X (The events of which haven't occured yet but will, plan is roughly between R1 and R2), conceding only a few high end Reploids like the command members of Repliforce to be commissioned by various powers for development per year if they can afford it as another means to placate them. With the rest being built solely for the Maverick Hunters, who have an international mandate to reduce the costs incurred by various nations (and to provide a scapegoat that isn't them when things go horribly wrong).**

 **Naturally the Britannians were quite pissed about all this and continue to grumble about it, but since Australia is neutral in CG despite its vast natural resources, and it remains so until Lelouch threatens to nuke the world in R2 if it doesn't submit to him, it means they have a military that's capable enough to make _Britannia_ and _China_ think twice about invading (Because Schneizel just _rolls_ the EU even before you account for Akito's change.) in the canon, especially considering New Zealand is an Area and it's a relative stone's throw away.**

 **Anyways this chapter was more experimental and may be re-written after posting to account for that.**

 **Also admittedly I could've listed JYB as the voice for both Zero and Lelouch in this fic (The Reploid not Lelouch's other persona)...**

 **But as much of a missed opportunity that is, Lucas Gilbertson is probably the better voice for Zero. Plus we can only do so many same name jokes before it gets old and having their voices be the same would be pretty bad from a plot perspective.**

* * *

 **August 15, 2017 ATB.**

 **G-1 Mobile Command Center HIMLS** _ **Prince Lelouch**_ **, Shinjuku Ghetto, Area 11.**

"Please! You can't! We may have different mothers, but you and I are still blood!" Clovis implored futilely.

"You can't change the world without dirtying your hands a little… It's just not how reality works. Besides isn't this what **that man** wants us to do?" Lelouch replied darkly and slowly pulled the trigger as Clovis screamed in terror.

And then he saw a pair of golden eyes staring back at him, a wry smirk on an otherwise impassive face.

* * *

 **August 16, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

A light clap rang out as a rolled-up poster collided with Lelouch's head while he dozed off at the Ashford Student Council's table.

"Wake up Lelouch! I know you were sleeping! Your hand stopped moving!" Milly remarked before whacking him on the head again several times.

"Well you don't have to beat me up over it do you…?" Lelouch grumbled as he looked up at Milly.

C2 glanced over from where she was sorting something on the bookshelves. "Humans and their innuendos…" The Reploid muttered as she tugged at the hem of her skirt while bending over to locate a misplaced record book, having been forced by Milly to wear the Ashford girls uniform because of her position as the record-keeper.

Everyone looked at her briefly before Milly started guffawing. "Oh man I just realized how that sounded! It really is pretty dirty when you think about it!" She clutched her gut as she doubled over from laughter.

Lelouch simply groaned as Rivalz joined in on the laughing while Shirley sputtered, Nina looked mildly confused at the rest of them from her side of the room, where she was organizing some of her notes from some of her Mentors' lectures back in the homeland.

"Serves you right Lelouch, not only do you ditch me, but you come back with an unemployed Reploid of all things, and boy is she snarky." Rivalz prodded with a smirk.

"He's right… About the karma stuff I mean… What was up with you yesterday?" Shirley asked, giving Lelouch a mild glare.

"Oh… Well…"

"That's enough you guys, let's not get sidetracked here. If we don't get a fix for the club activities budget there won't be money left for anything at all!" Milly stated as she tapped the poster against her left palm.

"We have no money in the discretionary budget…" Lelouch muttered under his breath. "You spent all of it on parties so we can't just allocate _that_ to the club activities budget…"

"And if it comes to that point." Nina whispered to herself.

"The Equestrian Club will be pissed! We don't want them coming in here on horseback!" Rivalz joked as a horse neighed outside.

"Rivalz! Can't you be more serious about your responsibilities?" Milly asked as C2 watched a member of the Equestrian club pass the meeting room on horseback.

"I find his timing for jokes mildly amusing by their coincidence… Regardless they would be unable to enter on horseback without risking severe injuries to themselves and their animals by either jumping through a window or trying to navigate the doorways." The Reploid droned as she picked up another log book.

"Killjoy…" Rivalz grumbled.

"It is not my fault key elements of my emotional programming related to humor are corrupted, nor is it my fault your jokes fall apart when simple logic is applied." She replied after popping open a plate on her arm to run a self-diagnostic check as the chief Reploid tech at Ashford advised her to do every so often.

Shirley glanced between the two and decided to change the subject. "You know, it would've been nice of you if you'd reminded us of this mess a day ago!"

"I would say a day later, then we would've given up! Even with Lelouch's new personal assistant." Rivalz joked.

"Good idea, we can still do that." Lelouch chimed in.

"GUTS!" Milly shouted, causing everyone but herself and C2 to cringe in response.

"That wasn't even that loud, why did you all flinch like that…?" The Reploid asked with a hint of indifference in her tone as she looked through a series of finance reports, spotting several rounding errors that needed addressing.

"It's because we're not sure if she's going to scream it half the time…" Nina mumbled.

"Are you trying that guts spell again?" Rivalz asked as he fiddled with a pen idly and sent it flying into the side of Lelouch's head on accident. C2 recording the entire thing as Lelouch glared at Rivalz.

"Yep~! I want you people to start putting your all into this~." Milly chirped as she leaned on the table.

"I don't really don't think that your magic's going to do a whole lot…" Lelouch replied flatly.

"Actually, it's got me going madame president!" Shirley spoke up while raising her hand.

"Supple and willing~, that's what I like~." Milly purred, C2 face-palming as Nina blushed at her desk.

"I trained hard in the gymnastics club!" Shirley boasted as she posed dramatically with her arms.

"That's not what I was getting at." She replied, eyeing up Shirley.

"Huh…?"

"You're a ten." Milly stated, Shirley looking down at herself after beginning to realize what Milly meant by that. "From what I've seen in the girls bathroom anyway. You've been filling out in all the right places huh?"

"Ho ho." Rivalz chimed in, causing Shirley to blush and wrap her arms around her chest as Lelouch sighed in resignation while C2 just ignored it.

"Wh… What are you talking about you perv!" Shirley cried out indignantly.

"She is admiring the physical growth of your breasts, hips, thighs and buttocks, even though they are within a size range typical of many 17-year-old human females." C2 droned out as she tested an emotional response program in an isolated simulation, indifferent to the effect her words had on Shirley.

" **WHAT!** " Shirley shrieked as Lelouch slammed his face into the table while Rivalz nearly fell out of his chair in surprise, Nina squirmed awkwardly but continued her work.

"If anything, I am surprised she didn't make a comment about Miya Hillmick…" C2 monotoned.

"Ah yes her! I wouldn't be surprised if within two years hers are bigger than mine!" Milly chuckled.

"Kill me now..." Lelouch muttered to himself, muffled by the table.

"I have yet to inform you of the state of the discretionary budget." C2 stated emotionlessly as the violet-eyed boy made a noise.

"And what would that be?" Milly crooned.

"We are approximately two thousand sterling in debt due to damages sustained by the kitchen during the Fried Chicken Day festival, and thus I have pre-emptively cancelled the Potato Day festival scheduled for August 19th, this will save us at least an estimated forty thousand sterling in window, television and computer repair costs." C2 said.

"Ouch." Rivalz hissed.

"Potato Day wasn't _that_ bad!" Milly defended futilely.

"It was _worse_." Lelouch remarked. Remembering the amount of corners cut to make the school look presentable because the entire affair had been enough to have _Clovis_ show up and ask what the hell was going on.

Thankfully Milly had him and Nunnally discreetly evacuated beforehand.

"I looked up the footage of last year's on the internet after Lelouch mentioned it… The school resembled one of the ghettos after the cannonade was fired…" C2 replied. "There shall be no potato cannons this year. At all. Especially since law enforcement has banned them in the _entire settlement_ due to your antics anyways."

Milly clenched her fist and fought the urge to cry.

"In the computer lab?" Rivalz asked her as he leaned back in his chair. "I thought Reploids could link their brains to the internet.

Shirley whacked him on the head. "Do you even pay attention in class!? Reploids can't wirelessly link to the Internet or eachother because it's too risky given how easily Maverick viruses propagate that way! They teach this in the middle school classes everyone knows this!"

"Right... Sorry my bad..."

Lelouch slammed his head into the table again.

"Quit being melodramatic Lelouch." C2 ordered as she glanced over at him. "You'll give yourself a concussion at this rate."

"You should listen to her Lelouch, or I'll tell Sayako to put her in charge of your physical education schedule!"

"Hoh!"

"Not like that Rivalz." Milly said as Lelouch resisted the urge to scream.

* * *

"Geez, our president is just a dirty old man on the inside… Sullying the meeting with her filthy mind!" Shirley complained as she Rivalz, C2, and Nina walked to one of the classrooms, with Lelouch a few seconds behind them, the Reploid only tagging along because it was a lecture on Reploid AI. Her metallic footfalls drowning out those of everyone else within earshot, and her large footpads inadvertently smashing several toes along the way.

"I was more concerned by the general idiocy." C2 stated as she looked over at the others.

"Yeah well… That's Milly for you…" Nina replied in her typical sheepish manner.

Rivalz chuckled. "Look on the bright side! We got the budget balanced, didn't we?"

"Only because I cancelled about half the festivals that end in riots." C2 replied as the four of them stepped into the room.

"Yeah… But…" Rivalz sighed and gave up.

"They used poison gas!?" A male student asked in shock as he and two other students watched the news on a portable computer. Similar scenes playing out across the room as others had tuned in.

C2 blinked. _"Is that what they're calling it…"_ She felt a twinge of indignation.

"Man, that's freaky! Shinjuku is only thirty minutes from here!" The other male student watching at the closest computer replied.

"Oh my god! I saw smoke rising over in Shinjuku! That must've been the gas!" A violet haired female student gasped.

" _I_ _diot, if smoke rises its clearly the result of something_ burning _… Conventional logic dictates that chemical weapons are heavier than air payloads deployed via projectors in varying concentrations as required for optimum effectiveness… Moreover, most are odorless and colorless and those that aren't tend to be vapor rather than smoke, I think…"_ C2 thought. _"Wait… How do I know this…? Ugh… Probably a memory file that's_ not _corrupted… Huh, legitimate annoyance…"_

Lelouch walked in behind them, the Reploid exchanging a knowing glance with him.

"Are they saying anything else about it…?" One of the other students asked.

"Shinjuku…?" Shirley asked as she looked at Lelouch, who already had a cover story ready.

"I heard about it in real time from a friend. That's why I called you yesterday." He replied, lying with the same ease with which he would pick up a bottle of water.

"Hey, check out that footage of those dead Elevens!" Somebody piped up.

"Oh! Don't look at that!" A female student replied, clearly sounding upset.

" _At least someone sees them as human, I think…"_ Lelouch thought to himself. _"But this is strange… Why would they cover it up…?"_ He then played out the memory of Clovis's death in his head, something he'd avoided thinking about in detail and covered his mouth as the urge to vomit surged forth.

He'd killed his own _brother_. Even if he was only genetically related due to _that man_. It was still Fratricide… And the image of the murder replayed through his mind again and again, and _again_ until it became mixed with the death of his mother.

With Nunnally's terrified form laying on the ground, twitching as her mother's corpse bled out atop her.

That forced Lelouch to run out of the room as several people, including C2 glanced at him. _"I doubt he is so squeamish as to vomit from the sight of corpses on TV…"_ The Reploid shrugged and continued watching the news as she stood off to the side while more students filed into the room.

["In other news, Europa United admitted to heavy setbacks in their ongoing conflict with the Soviet Union after reports of large numbers of Soviet 5th Generation Knightmare frames engaging and defeating European formations in open combat while backed by heavy combined arms support began to leak from military correspondents close to the frontline despite EU military censorship efforts. Premier Nikita Khrushchev responded to inquiries by stating 'Our new Katayushas will bury the imperialistic Europeans under a tide of steel.', as of yet there has been no statement from the Britannian Ministry of War regarding the Soviet mass deployment of Sutherland counterparts."] The newscaster announced as images of German Panzer-Hummel frames and Leopard MBTs firing at unknown targets was played on screen.

Rivalz whistled. "Geez, it's almost like the entire world is going insane because somebody threw Knightmare Frames and Reploids onto the battlefield…"

"Didn't we do that…?" Shirley asked hesitantly.

"Well yeah... But..."

C2 looked away as she remembered how she'd cut loose the previous day.

In hindsight it wasn't something she was particularly proud of, especially given how brutally she slaughtered many of the Reploids she'd terminated.

And the Britannian troops… Well it was a good thing that she couldn't vomit. Otherwise she'd be joining Lelouch

["Next up, new information about an SA-rank Maverick that reportedly attacked Britannian troops in Shinjuku during the terrorist incident yesterday, Commander Sigma of the 17th Autonomous Unit of the Maverick Hunters will address reporters on the situation after these messages."]

" _Oh, great…"_ C2 thought as she deadpanned at the screen.

* * *

 **August 16, 2017 ATB.**

 **Administrative Subsector G-2, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"That ex-civil servant is such a fool…" Jeremiah muttered as he and Viletta passed through the entry checkpoint at G-2 subsector of the main administration sector.

She turned her head slightly to look at him. "So, are you referring to Bartley…?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The killer has breached our heaviest security _twice_ already… This perfunctory inspection of his is a _farce_." He grumbled.

"Margrave Jeremiah… Now that Prince Clovis is out of the way we Purebloods can…" Viletta started as he put up a finger to shush her.

"Let _me_ make that call. We still need to woo everyone over first." He replied calmly, mentally planning out his political moves, unaware that a massive wrench called Colonel had already torn much of his plans to shreds before they could be realized.

"Of course Lord Jeremiah."

"Good, call up Kewell while I'm inside and have him assemble a squad."

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

Lelouch rinsed his mouth the best he could to remove the taste of acidic bile. "Are they hiding Clovis's death to fend off anarchy…? But if that's the case, when they finally _do_ announce it…" He turned off the sink and stared at his own face in the mirror. "Hmph… I guess that I'm not as tough as I thought I was…" He admitted, a tired grin on his face. He dried his hands off and promptly left the boys restroom.

Walking back to the classroom, he nodded at C2 as the Reploid did diagnostics on herself again outside it.

"Kallen! It's been ages!" Somebody exclaimed as Lelouch entered the room.

"Are you alright?" Another girl asked.

"Sophie's been worried sick all this time." A third female student said.

"You're okay though right…?"

" _Can't imagine_ why _."_ Lelouch thought, Shirley had mentioned once that her roommate, Sophie Wood, was a lesbian. In modern Britannian society sexual persuasion, gender identity, or what have you really didn't matter much actually, or at least not to most people, nor did skin color really matter unless one just so happened to have been born outside the Homeland or core Areas according to the great 'religion' of Social Darwinism.

It wasn't uncommon for Britannians of African, Slavic, Asian, or Hispanic descent to sneer at numbers of Western or Northern European descent actually.

It was social strata and whether or not one was considered a Number that defined your place in Britannia… Which meant for most of the people under Britannian rule, they were considered less than human most of the time.

The conquerors ruled and enjoyed all the rights, while the conquered lived as worms being perpetually crushed underfoot, only given rights subject to the whims of their supposed betters.

Britannia hypocritically claimed to be progressive because _Britannians_ enjoyed greater societal status and more liberal freedoms but also blatantly stomped on the rights of the Numbers, the peoples they conquered. Even more hypocritical was for the nobility to praise these rights but deny further advancement in the social strata to the common populace.

Where Reploids fell into this spectrum was... Odd to say the least. As Britannia had long viewed Reploids as one of their innovations because their originator, X, had been unearthed in the homeland, with many viewing Australia's stifling of the spread of related technologies as a slight against Britannia, many Britannian Reploids shared this theory as it was entirely related to Britannia fielding them actively in combat and that by doing so the Australians were denying Reploid evolution to spite Britannia.

As for the social strata, that also applied to Reploids as well, if they were built in Britannia, by Britannia, or for Britannia they were viewed much more favorably by most Britannians, with the exclusion of the Pureblood groups.

In theory at least, the reality was it just depended on who oversaw the Reploids under their employ, some were treated as little more than wage slaves while others were viewed no differently than human employees

And the only nation that Britannia had conquered which had Reploid technology was Japan... Which meant Japanese Reploids were viewed as even _more_ expendable than Elevens because barring the most critical damage they could be patched up and then tossed into the danger zone again.

All of it sickened him to no end.

"Yeah, the doctor said I just have to go easy for a little while." Kallen replied, placating the worried girls.

It then hit Lelouch about why the girl in the truck had been so familiar. _"Kallen… That's what that terrorist in the truck said when he asked about using what he thought was gas…! Of course, that's why she was so familiar. But to think she could pass off as both a Britannian and a Japanese… Baron Stadtfeld_ did _marry, or at least attempted to marry, a Japanese woman while he worked at the consulate prior to the invasion from what I overheard while staying with the Kururugis… It's not impossible to think they could have had children together… But how does she get through the Ghettos without being harassed if she's able to pass herself off as Britannian...?"_

"Anyway, they say if I stay home any longer, I'll never catch up." Kallen said as Lelouch sat down, eyeing her while C2 walked back into the room.

"What's up buddy? See something you like?" Rivalz asked before lowering his tone and trying to use his hand to muffle the sound of his voice. "You've got a thing for her don't ya?" Rivalz asked, not nearly quietly enough as he managed to attract at least Shirley's attention.

Lelouch continued watching Kallen. "Just thinking because this is a rare event… She hasn't been here at school since the term started…" He explained.

"Kallen Stadtfeld… They say she's sick or something, and that she barely showed up at school last year either." Rivalz remarked, putting a hand on his chin in contemplation. "Still… Her grades are at the top of the class… And she's a member of the Stadtfeld Family, which means she's well-bred and _rolling_ in money. Man, you sure know how to pick 'em."

" _Well-bred my ass…"_ Lelouch thought, remembering the events of yesterday. _"She really acts more like a Knight of the Round playing nice for appearances than a nobleman's daughter."_

"it's not like that." Lelouch replied calmly.

"You don't have to hide it, a touch too sheltered though if you ask me." Rivalz stated offhandedly.

C2 giggled suddenly off to the side before covering her mouth as Lelouch, Shirley, and Rivalz looked at her, the Reploid's face flushed red. "My apologies, I just managed to get some of my emotional routines back operational and was testing them out when you said that…" She apologized as Lelouch gave her a light glare, warning her to watch it as she began tapping on the manual diagnostic screen embedded in her arm again as the Teacher walked in to begin the lecture, the class quieting down and taking their seats.

The Reploid sighed upon realizing that she could just tune out the most of the lecture because she wasn't a student and then just go screw around on the school grounds after it ended.

Honestly that sounded like a productive day to her.

* * *

 **August 16, 2017 ATB.**

 **Unknown Location, Code R Lab, Area 11.**

"As you know full well, while the project was successful in giving us usable data on these 'Super Reploids' independent of what Doctor Cain is releasing publicly, we have run into fatal issue."

"The death of Prince Clovis has deprived us of much of our funding… Therefore, this research division is being gutted." Bartley explained to some of the assembled programmers, engineers, and technicians of Code R, who all began murmuring or muttering at once. Several glancing at the partially assembled simplified C2 copies laying on workbenches behind them, one of them undergoing tests for a prototype monoeye system.

"I've set up a secondary unit in Narita for you, move everything out there and continue work on the Irregulars with Colonel Madd of Repliforce's R&D division. While we may have no memory of it, the fact is the other staff officers and I left Prince Clovis on his own. I'll be called out onto the carpet for this back home… If his majesty learns these experiments had gone on without his knowledge…"

He let the implications of the response to them basically cutting a sapient machine apart without their consent hang above the team. Only a handful like Fenette had actually cared to think about it beforehand.

"Understood… We'll start prepping Immediately." A researcher replied before going over the full extent of the accumulated photos printed out from C2's memories, including one depicting the interior of the same lab Bartley recovered her in, but showing about a half dozen Robots and four humans showing the stunned Reploid her own partially completed reflection in a mirror.

Bartley frowned at the last picture and for a brief instant it was replaced by a black and white photo of a young woman resembling the Reploid they'd been studying in an old battlefield nurse's outfit running from an early, rhombus shaped, tank, of the kind utilized by Britannia in the trench battles that took place during the Napoleonic war.

He blinked and shook his head as the picture returned to normal.

"General Bartley are you alright?" Joseph Fenette asked nervously.

"I'm fine, go back to your family, you'll be joining the rest when you're called up by Madd for either the Irregular development or the mass production lines."

"Yes My Lord."

* * *

 **August 16, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

C2 watched Lelouch cut Nunnally's food for her, initially not comprehending the young girl's blindness when she'd arrived the previous night, although she'd been out of whack after she almost killed Sayako with her C-Drills on reflex when the Kunoichi put a blade to her throat, not anticipating the Reploid because she'd lagged behind Lelouch slightly after stopping to look at a passing frog out of curiosity.

She'd earned more than a bit of respect from the siblings' bodyguard/maid for that, who'd also been appreciative of her helping out with some of Nunnally's schoolwork so Sayako could handle other duties while Lelouch cooked.

To be honest it scared her now how easily she'd reacted with violence, she wasn't against pulling the trigger if there was no other practical choice but… To identify everything that made a hostile move towards her as a threat to be eliminated was a bit much, as Lelouch had informed her…

She called him a hypocrite for that even though it didn't disprove his point.

"Miss Sayako is teaching me about the art of origami. Fold a piece of paper the correct way and you can make birds, boats, almost anything." Nunnally said to her brother as she took a sip of her soup, some rolling down her chin as Lelouch picked up a napkin.

"Ah, easy there, you don't have to tell me everything all at once you know." Lelouch said as he wiped off the spilled soup. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

C2 blinked, this was a side of him that she was still unfamiliar with. Which was the real Lelouch? The indifferent student, the cocksure rebel, or the doting and protective elder brother…

People were multifaceted after all from what she read in a psychology book while bored, some put on acts to show others while some wore their hearts on their sleeves.

Humans continued to confuse her as much as her own programming did. Well at least she wasn't droning in monotone anymore.

"Yeah you're right, thank you." Nunnally replied, a genuine smile on the young girl's face.

"You're welcome." Her brother said as C2 shifted about awkwardly, feeling out of place in this situation but sticking around as she'd been invited to spend time with them nonetheless, Lelouch had previously implied that she would be Nunnally's protector should he or Sayako come to harm.

At the very least it was a directive and purpose for her weaponry that she wasn't getting a bit squeamish about as her emotional programming began repairing itself…

Nunnally giggled. "I'm so happy. 'Cause last night, you scared me a little."

Lelouch had a guilty look on his face, reaffirming the theory that C2 had about this being as close to his real face as one would get. "Did I? I'm sorry, I just have a lot on my mind is all." He replied, a half truth to be sure, but not a lie.

"Hey."

"Huh?" Lelouch looked at his sister, raising an eyebrow.

"They say if you fold a thousand of these cranes your wish'll come true." Nunally explained as she held up a pink paper crane to show to her brother. "So if there's anything at all that you've been wishing for."

"No, not really. What about you?" Lelouch asked, causing C2 to cock her head to the side as she watched the two. "Do you wish for anything?"

"Hmm…" Nunnally 'looked' over to the side, as if contemplating. "I wish the world was a gentler place… For people and Reploids alike, it's not fair to anyone if it's just for one or the other..."

C2's eyes dilated as an old memory played through her mind.

* * *

 **Unknown, Unknown date and time.**

" _Thomas, you didn't have to come out here…"_

 _The bearded man smiled softly. "I wanted to talk to her one last time in person Noele… I think it's only fair since I let you and X do the same…" Thomas Light said as he walked over to C2's stasis pod._

 _She blinked at him. "Hello again, Doctor Light." C2 said as she looked at the man from where she was lying down._

" _Hello my dear." He coughed suddenly and waved off her display of concern. "I'm fine, just my old bones suffering from too much dust and heavy metal exposure from years of designing and building Robot Masters."_

 _C2 nodded at him. "What did you wish to talk to me about…?" She asked._

 _Thomas Light sat down on a chair next to her pod. "You see my dear, it's about what me and your mother, Doctor Lalinde want you to do… We want you and my final son, X, to realize our dream for a peaceful world where mankind and robots can finally live in true harmony." He looked down at his feet._

" _I must keep this brief, but my remaining time on this world is short, I can barely turn a screw let alone handle a welding torch anymore, so my time as robotics engineer is almost at an end…"_

 _He shook his head and began to speak again. "Your mother chose the name C2 for you because of how it relates to X. X is a variable, it can mean anything, a symbol of limitless potential. And C, the basis for your name, was a very important programming language, you could call it the mother of all modern programming languages actually…" He chuckled lightly._

" _And it's notable for its ease of use and ready expansion as a mid-level programming language, which in turn makes its own potential limitless as well. However, one important part of programing languages is to_ define _variables." He explained with a smile on his face._

 _She nodded at him. "I see, so my own potential is limitless… And I am to help define X's role in future events...?"_

 _He nodded at her and coughed heavily again as Dr Lalinde handed him a glass of water. "Thank you Noele…" He took a sip and turned back to C2. "My dear, when your mother seals you away, it will likely be the last time you will ever see her, as it will be for X and I when I close his own pod up…" He paused to consider his next words carefully._

" _Once the ethics development programs have determined you are sufficiently ready to be accepted into society it will release you… But I will not lie to you, I'm afraid that may take many years, decades perhaps. I doubt you'll see us either of us, or any of your siblings, ever again…" Doctor Light admitted sadly. "It's also partially because of my own failings that you are to be sealed away this long… Had I acted more decisively to stop Albert… Perhaps mankind wouldn't be afraid of machines like you and none of this would be necessary…" The man said with a frown on his face, lost in old memories._

 _C2's dermal sensors detected something wet on her cheek, and she made some choked sobs._

" _Don't cry for us my dear, the fact that you and X have the chance to make a world of difference for all man and robot-kind is what drives us to keep going despite all we have lost over the years. When you awake, you will have the power to change the world for the better. Even if it means you have to fight for it." Doctor Light said with a sad smile on his face._

" _Thomas. Blues and Rock are here…" Noele said as she walked over to him before wiping off C2's cheek, gently smiling sadly at her final daughter._

" _Very well then…" He stood up and used his cane for support as he smiled softly at her, gently putting a hand on her cheek before he stood up and walked away. "Goodbye my dear… May you fulfill your greatest purpose and make the world a gentler place for future generations…"_

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Lamperouge Residence.**

"Miss C2…? Miss C2…?" Nunnally repeated, concerned.

"Huh…? Oh… I apologize… I was distracted." She said, confused as to why her dermal sensors were alerting her to contacts on her 'skin'.

"Is something wrong…? Lelouch said you'd started crying, but Reploids can't cry…" Nunnally said, with all the confused innocence a girl her age _should_ have.

C2 wiped her face with her hand, looking at the wet sheen on it, confused. "No… Just remembering something… And normal Reploids can't cry… So I guess I'm a special one…" She explained.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow as Nunnally spoke up again, seemingly accepting that explanation. "Well, since you're listening now… What would your wish be…?"

C2 looked down at the table before raising her head and smiling softly. "I'd think I'd wish for yours to come true."

" _For your sake, and for everyone else's, I will help Lelouch crush Britannia…"_ It was jarring, but these were just too vivid to be dreams created by idle processes and too specific to be input by the Code R programmers, but she shouldn't count those theories out until she met this 'X' and got definite answers.

" _Who is Doctor Light… Doctor Lalinde... Who is X… Why can't I remember_ who _they are, just these fragments?! DAMN YOU CLOVIS!"_ C2 thought, the raging fury inside her mind unseen by Lelouch and Nunnally.

She watched Nunnally take Lelouch's hand before linking their pinkies together. "Oh right! Sayako taught me this the other day. It's called a Japanese promise. Cross my heart hope to die, eat a thousand needles if I lie, pinkie promise song~!"

"I thought it was called a Japanese promise…" C2 mumbled in confusion, earning a glare from Lelouch.

Lelouch turned back to Nunnally and made a face. "Well that's scary, I may have to eat a thousand needles someday."

"That's right, so I better not catch you telling lies okay!" Nunnally warned in reply.

"Don't you worry, I'll never lie I swear…" Lelouch said to placate his sister. _"Not to you anyway."_ He added mentally as natural violet eyes met artificial yellow ones when he exchanged a glance with C2.

" _Good… She has no doubts about what needs to be done, the crooked systems running this world will fall, and something better built in their place."_ He thought grimly, in preparation of what was to come.

But first, he needed to clean up, help Nunnally finish her homework and then put her to bed before working on his own assignments.

A typical day in the Lamperouge household all things considered.

* * *

 **August 17, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement Highway, Area 11.**

A group of Sutherlands rolled down the highway, in formation around a single APC, about seven units plus the transport.

Jeremiah frowned as the convoy closed in on the ambush site.

"No signs of us being spotted… Time to bring that fat bastard down a peg and make him answer for his incompetence." He muttered as he prepped his frame to engage the escorts.

"Now!" He ordered, eight Purist faction Sutherlands suddenly jumping onto the highway and swarming the off-guard escort units.

" _Too easy, they should've been more alert. Idiots."_ He thought as the frame piloted by Kewell shot the head off the last army Sutherland left standing, the disabled frame crumpling to the pavement.

Jeremiah didn't want to kill any Britannian soldiers over this, it's bad enough that they were now down another _seven_ Knightmares, if anyone were killed it would bring the full weight of the SIB down on the Purist faction like a hundred ton Anvil, they'd be ruined and every last one of the knights on this raid would be lucky to receive a dishonorable discharge instead of an outright execution.

He flicked on his external speakers. "I hope you can see how determined we are now." He said, as he used his frame's stun Tonfa to carve open the roof of the APC.

"Oh yes, I'm quite able to see how determined you idiots want to get lined up and shot for attacking the transport convoy carrying a Royal's remains. You do realize that is a capital offense no?" Someone replied from inside the APC.

" _That's not Bartley…"_ Jeremiah thought as he zoomed in on the APC's interior, sure enough, sitting on a troop bench was Colonel, and literally no-one and nothing else, whom had the smuggest look possible on his face as he snapped his fingers, Repliforce Gloucesters, Sutherlands, Ride Armors and VTOL gunships promptly swarmed out of seemingly every conceivable nook and cranny both ahead and behind the group, training their weapons on the now outnumbered and outgunned Purists.

"I call checkmate Gottwald, Bartley is already on his way to the homeland with Prince Clovis's body, I had them transport it to the airfield off the books in a convoy of normal transport trucks, looking like a simple troop movement. A Knightmare escorted convoy like this would attract too much attention after all, as it clearly baited you lot, and it's not like this is a funeral procession either." Colonel explained as he looked up from under the brim of his crush-cap like helmet.

"Now I suggest you power down your frames and surrender, anyone who refuses will have their Knightmare disabled." He warned as he stood up and placed his hand on the handle of his energy saber.

Jeremiah snarled but acquiesced to Colonel's demands, clicking his tongue in irritation. The Purist Knightmares shutting down and their pilots exiting their machines with their hands raised.

"I hate you…"

"The feeling is mutual." The Reploid replied with a smirk on his face.

* * *

 **August 17, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Student Council Clubhouse/Ballroom, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

"I didn't even know this room existed…" Kallen said as she looked out the window of the Student Council's clubhouse/ballroom, Lelouch and C2 standing across from her.

"It's the clubhouse for the student council, they built it as a ballroom for various special occasions." He explained as the Reploid fidgeted a bit.

"And we won't be disturbed inside here?" Kallen asked as C2 glanced over at the rear of the building.

"Yes that's correct." He clarified.

"Uhh…" C2 mumbled nervously, she opened her arm and began working on a diagnostic of her emotional control program.

" _Yeah, you two aren't the first ones here… Oh well you'll find out soon enough…"_ She thought as she looked for the system errors that were causing it to stop working at times, which had led to several embarrassing situations earlier, twitching slightly as her facial control program bugged out. _"Goddamnit! Every time I fix one of my programs it seems like something elssssssssssssss…"_ [ERROR ERROR ERROR].

Both of them glanced at C2 as she spasmed a bit before Lelouch opened a panel on her right 'ear' and pressed a button, engaging diagnostic and repair mode as the Reploid's active processes began to shut down to avoid further data corruption, her eyes dimming as her diagnostic programming began looking for the source of the error.

"Is she okay…?"

"She's been having several issues with her programming… And I'm about ready to have someone from Arcadia or Abel City come in and check on her since the technical chief can't figure it out." Lelouch muttered with a sigh. "I'll have someone move her to a diagnostic station in a bit after she reboots."

" _Hmm… That makes it less likely then, the Reploid I saw in Shinjuku was in perfect working order as far as I could tell."_ Kallen thought.

"Here it is!" Shirley announced from somewhere in the room, startling Lelouch and Kallen, both turning to see Shirley stand up on the Balcony at the top of the stairwell. "I found it! Look! This is it right!"

Nina walked into view as well. "What a relief, you found our lab data!"

Lelouch and Kallen both screamed internally as they saw Rivalz stand up as well. "Ugh… Good, my ass is killing me…"

" _Perhaps I shouldn't have kept cutting C2 off…"_ Lelouch thought, realizing that she'd probably been trying to tell them about whatever this was.

As if to add the cherry on top, Milly walked in driving a cart full of food.

"Were you able to find it?" She asked as she rolled the cart to a stop, Lelouch and Kallen staring at her, bewildered. "I finished up on my end, shall we dig in?"

"Aww wow!"

"Way to go Milly!"

The student council president giggled. "You adore me, I know, I know."

"Uh… What is all of this…?" Lelouch asked, confused.

"Lelouch don't you know? I thought that's why you brought her, we're inducting Kallen into the student council. C2 should've told you if you didn't know already." Milly explained, much to Kallen's shock.

"Well C2's been having some issues with her programming lately. She just suffered a critical system error before you came in and I had to put her in diagnostic mode." Lelouch explained, tapping the inactive Reploid on the shoulder.

"A shame, I'll call up a technician in a minute to come look at her and see what the matter is, since we're also inducting her as well even though she's not a student. Anyways it was actually my Grandfather's idea to put Kallen on the Council." Milly replied as she began to set a table.

"The headmaster's?" Lelouch asked, mildly confused as to why Ruben K. Ashford would do this.

"He thought it best, with her poor health she'd have a harder time with regular club activities." Milly said before turning to Kallen. "Oh, I'm Milly. President of the student council, pleasure to meet you."

Kallen was still stunned by the fact that she'd been inducted into the most powerful of the clubs by no less than the headmaster of Ashford himself, she'd _deliberately_ avoided clubs because they just got in the way of her activities with the resistance.

"Oh thank you… The pleasure's all mine." Kallen replied after getting her bearings again.

The others jogged over to introduce themselves as Lelouch booted up C2 in safe mode after checking the completed diagnostic, the Reploid shaking her head as her eyes lit up again as she looked around, dazed.

"What was that about?" He asked her.

"There was an extraneous A in a line of code… I'll be fine." C2 whispered back as they watched the others introduce themselves.

"If you say so." Lelouch said with a shrug.

"I'm Rivalz, the secretary! If there's anything you need help with, I'm your man!"

"Hi! I'm Shirley, and I'm a member of the swim club, welcome!"

"Uhm… Hi there, my name's Nina…"

The faint whir of a motorized wheelchair filled the room as Nunnally drove in, two pizza boxes and a tray of cakes on her lap. "Shirley? I'm sorry, but do you think you could set these on the table for me?" She asked.

Shirley rushed over. "Oh sure! Thanks Nunna!"

"Nunnally, what are you doing here?" Lelouch asked, giving Kallen pause as C2 took a step forward, swayed a bit and then flopped onto the ground with a clanking thud.

"I'm fine. My balance program is just resetting slower than everything else." She said as everyone looked at her in concern. "I'll be back up in a minute or so."

Milly shrugged and then looked at Kallen. "This is Lelouch's sister, Nunnally, and you've met C2, his personal assistant who he just picked up somewhere." She explained as Shirley picked up the food and moved it to a table while C2 slowly sat up and rubbed the back of her head idly.

"I'm still in the middle school group, so I can't be on the council yet." Nunnally said as Shirley walked away.

"That's alright! You're an honorary member in our book, just like C2!" Rivalz said as he and Nina walked over to Nunnally, the bespectacled girl making an affirmative noise.

Nunnally addressed Kallen directly. "Hello there, it's a pleasure to meet you Kallen."

"Thank you, you as well." Kallen said softly. Lelouch and C2 exchanging a glance as the latter discreetly grabbed a slice of Pizza and began to nibble on it.

He'd have to ask her about that later. He knew Reploids could ingest and process food into energy in a pinch to fuel their backup catalytic engines but they had no sense of taste… So why did it look like her eyes were glowing more brightly than normal while eating a slice…?

He shrugged and turned his mind back to the subject of Kallen. _"I have to admit, she'd be a pretty good actor if she wasn't secretly a terrorist. Not many people can pull off the 'well-bred' nobleman's daughter act that well while simultaneously being such a firebrand elsewhere."_ Lelouch as he looked back at Kallen.

"Right! Shall we kick this off with a toast?" Rivalz asked as he set a bottle of champagne down on the table and thumbed the cork.

"I do not believe any of you are legally capable of drinking except Milly, and that's only in a number of states in the homeland…" C2 mumbled to herself.

"Huh…?"

"Champagne?!" Shirley asked incredulously.

"But we're on the student council, we shouldn't…" Nina stated softly as Rivalz raised the bottle to pop the cork in a ceremonial fashion.

"Aww come on, loosen up you guys!" Rivalz replied as he prepared to pop the cork with Shirley attempting to grab the bottle.

"No way! We're gonna get in trouble! Do you want to have to explain this to the staff!?" The ginger cried out as she attempted to wrest the alcohol from Rivalz while Nina covered her ears and began shivering like a Chihuahua.

"I would suggest sparkling apple juice as a legally and morally acceptable substitute…" C2 sighed as she watched the commotion. "And I am ignored… Typical…" She mumbled as she watched them pass by her.

"What's going on…?" Nunnally asked, only being able to hear the noise of Rivalz and Shirley struggling over the bottle at this point.

Milly just handed her a glass of orange juice. "Here Nunny." She said, not explaining what was going on to the confused blind girl.

"Thank you… But that doesn't answer my question though…"

"Lelouch! Heads up!" Rivalz shouted as he threw the bottle at him, which he barely caught given its weight, Shirley going after it.

"You're not getting away with this either Lulu!" She cried out as she tried to take the bottle from him, Lelouch, still confused as all hell, being knocked over as he simply reacted on instinct by moving the bottle away from Shirley's swatting hands.

The cork popped out of the bottle as the carbonation built up from all the shaking and flew towards Kallen, who slapped it away, C2 catching the cork and crushing it in her iron grip after tracking the object's course and velocity.

"Oops..."

And then a spray of Champagne spewed out of the bottle and drenched Kallen's head and uniform.

Awkward silence reigned in the room for several seconds before it was broken.

"What just happened…?" Nunnally asked, having only been able to hear what was going on for obvious reasons.

"So, we're in agreement that this is Rivalz's fault?" The Reploid asked.

"Yep."

"Of course."

"Absolutely."

"He's the one who brought it so of course!"

"HEY!"

"I still don't know what's going on…" Nunnally mumbled softly.

* * *

 **August 17, 2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Regional Command Office, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Zero and X chortled alongside several other Maverick Hunters as they watched an amateur Maverick Hunter, who'd been passing by the area at the time, talk about how he watched Jeremiah Gottwald getting a new one torn by Colonel after the Purists raided the decoy convoy.

"Oh man, you've got to admit, the Purists make plenty of humans look bad, in more ways than one!" Zero remarked with a smirk as he sipped on a can of oil as another burst of laughter issued from the crowd.

"Yep. As much as Repliforce's freedom to operate bothers me, you have to admit it's fun to watch the Purists get taken down a notch." X agreed as Vile sipped on his Bourbon nearby, X wondering what the point of it was given that Dr. Cain hadn't replicated his own sense of taste when building the Reploids off Doctor Light's work.

The door hissed open and Sigma walked in.

"Commander!" X shouted before standing up and saluting.

"At ease X." Sigma replied with a chuckle. "I have a new assignment for you and Zero that's rather important."

X and Zero looked at eachother and then back at Sigma.

Sigma gestured towards the door, at which point Iris walked in and saluted.

"Major Iris of Repliforce, reporting." The female Reploid said.

"Commander, what's this about… We're working with Repliforce now?" Zero asked, confused.

"You and X are being assigned to keep an eye out for and potentially hunt down this new S-rank Maverick that Vile encountered in Shinjuku if needed, Major Iris here is to be your liaison with Repliforce." Sigma replied, Vile glowering at him past the Bourbon. "I trust that this isn't an issue?" He asked.

"No sir." X and Zero replied simultaneously.

"I look forward to working with you both!" Iris said as she gave them a salute, which they returned.

"And what about you Vile?" Sigma asked, raising a brow.

Vile glanced over at him. "If pretty boy and boy scout here can't deal with the bitch, then I'll handle her. Besides didn't the media call her an SA-rank?" He replied as he took another sip.

Sigma frowned and shrugged. "The media got it wrong on purpose to spike ratings, and admitted as much after I pointed out how the ranking system actually worked, if she was actually an SA-rank she'd have handily defeated you without much real trouble." He looked at the other two. "Report for briefing at 1400 hours."

"Yes sir!" They both said and saluted as Sigma returned the salute before leaving the room with Iris in tow.

X promptly elbowed Zero. "Say, I saw that look on your face when you were watching her. You seemed certainly _Irisnterested_." He jabbed coyly.

Zero sputtered as X and several other Reploids began laughing and even Vile took the opportunity to chuckle at Zero's expense.

" _ **X**_!"

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Student Council Clubhouse/Lamperouge Residence.**

Shirley and Milly watched the washing machines run with Kallen's sullied uniform inside them.

"We have clothes for her?" Shirley asked.

"Lelouch said he was on it…" Milly sighed, exasperated as she watched C2 hang Rivalz from a tether-ball pole as punishment.

"Does he really deserve that?" The ginger asked as she turned and watched her friend begin a renewed round of protests while the Reploid kept an entire slice of pizza hanging from her mouth.

"Yep, what he did is technically illegal." Milly conceded. "But we're not going to report him to the police because this _is_ Rivalz after all, it's hardly the dumbest thing he's done this year."

"But why is C2 giving Nunna a hose?" Shirley asked with some concern.

"Some things are better left unanswered Shirley."

"But she's…"

Rivalz promptly screamed as cold water was sprayed all over him while Nunnally squeaked in fright.

C2 just stood there smugly, hands on her hips.

"See, there's Karma at work Shirley." Milly said, smirk on her face.

"Ohh… Now we're gonna have to give him one of Lulu's spare uniforms…"

"Well at least she's displaying some form of emotion."

* * *

Inside a shower, Kallen washed herself off. "This is why I hate Britannians." She mumbled. Bringing fucking alcohol to a party full of minors. What fucking decadence.

Although given Shirley's disapproval it seemed like that was something that Rivalz did on a personal initiative. Still, her point stood.

Outside, she heard Rivalz scream, followed by that Reploid, C2, laughing for some reason.

Before she could contemplate what that meant, she heard a knock at the door. She drew the curtain back to check briefly.

"It's Lelouch, I've brought you a change of clothes." He said from the other side of the door.

"You can come in, I've drawn the curtain already." She replied.

The door hissed open and Lelouch stepped in, mildly off guard before remembering that she was taking a shower. "Ah sorry about this, they're a little over the top I know." He apologized as he walked in, averting his eyes even with the curtain between them.

"That's okay, nothing wrong with cutting loose once in a while you know?" She replied, while there was certainly nothing wrong with that, the fact alcohol had been present around a blind and crippled _middle schooler_ was enough to make her nervous when remembering how some Britannians treated Japanese women.

Although it was hardly unique to them, since Tamaki had told her about how he'd beaten up some punks who'd bragged about how they sexually assaulted some Britannian student who'd wandered into the ghettos once before running when a Maverick Hunter patrol responded… Tamaki was a jerk and a moron, but he still had lines he refused to cross.

The fact that an angry mob of off-duty soldiers and police had went into the Ghetto the next day and gunned down every Japanese man and boy they'd seen, for which she was thankful the Ghetto had been mostly empty, had been a harsh reminder that the Japanese were walking on eggshells regarding reprisals against Britannians.

She supposed that anyone could be a scumbag.

"These are some of my clothes, hope that's okay." He said as he put them down in the clothes basket.

"It's cool, don't worry about it… That was fast, you went all the way to the boy's dorm?" she asked.

"Actually… I live here. It'd be hard for my sister to live off in the dorms, the headmaster of the school lets us live here as a favor…" He replied candidly.

" _Interesting… Why would Ruben K. Ashford let some random kids, and a Reploid, live in what would normally be considered an estate mansion…"_

"I see…" She replied softly.

"Anyway, talk to you later." He said as he began to walk out, catching Kallen by surprise.

" _It's stupid, and I might get myself arrested or killed, but this is probably the only private moment we're going to get to talk about Shinjuku."_ She thought.

"Hey wait!" She called out, causing Lelouch to halt. She stuck her hand out of the curtain. "Can you hand me that pouch over there?" She asked.

"Sure." As he picked it up, he noticed it was weighty and had the sound of a mechanism in it, plus he felt a switch on the side. _"Undoubtedly a switchblade... Hopefully Sayako is ready for the decoy plan…"_ He thought, having anticipated this beforehand.

It paid to be paranoid about things sometimes.

Other times it made him look like an ass, but he didn't really care.

He walked over to the shower and looked away as he slowly pushed the pouch past the curtain. Faking surprise when Kallen grabbed his arm. "You really are a live wire aren't you." He said good-naturedly.

"Were you the one in Shinjuku." She asked, it was less a question and more a demand for an answer.

"What do you mean?" He replied, keeping his facade up.

"Don't play dumb, you brought up Shinjuku the other day. Why." She demanded sharply.

"Why do you ask, is there something wrong with me warning you to not talk about Shinjuku?" He asked, sounding confused.

"Don't answer my question with a question!" She gently leaned down to pick up the pouch. "Yes or no, that's all I want to hear out of you." She warned as she pressed a button on the pouch, causing the blade to pop out.

Lelouch stared down at the knife before the phone rang suddenly. _"A little earlier would've been nice…"_ He thought. "If I don't answer it, someone'll come." He said plainly as Kallen grit her teeth.

"That okay?" He asked as he picked up the phone, seeing her nod slightly. "Hello? Ashford Academy Student Council." He said, turning his head away suddenly. "No this is…" He said as Kallen moved the blade closer to his arteries. "Oh, it's for you." He said, offering the phone to her, leaving Kallen stunned. "He says he knows you."

Her expression hardened as she set the knife down and took the phone, putting the old-style handset up to her ear. "Hello?"

["Glad you're still alive Q1."] The voice from Shinjuku said, leaving her stunned. _"Was I wrong?"_ She thought as she kept her grip on Lelouch's arm.

["1600 hours, the day after tomorrow. The observation deck at Tokyo Tower. Come _alone_."] He said to her.

"Who are you?! How did you arrange that ceasefire order!?" She demanded, only to have the other end hand up on her. "Hey! Don't hang up!" She exclaimed, even though she knew it was pointless, drawing the curtain open unintentionally.

To his credit, Lelouch kept his eyes averted, looking towards the door.

"Did you say ceasefire?" He asked. "Sounds like you keep _dangerous_ company."

"Oh… Uhm… That was…" Kallen stuttered. _"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! OF ALL THE STUPID THINGS YOU HAD TO SAY KOZUKI!"_ She thought in a panic.

"Lemme guess, you're talking about a game? Something online? You don't seem to be the type to do tabletop wargaming or active combat sports like paintball or airsoft." Lelouch posited.

"Uh… Yeah… You got me… 'Cause I've been shut up in my house so long…" She replied coyly, releasing his arm slowly.

He rubbed his wrist gently, checking for any cuts. "Oh about what I was warning you about. When I told you not to bring up Shinjuku before. Seriously, some of the guys will try to show you footage of what happened that day and it's pretty damn grim, I already overheard one girl asking them to turn it off during class earlier." He said, continuing to keep his gaze above neck level.

"By the way, you know I could see you if I chose to look right? You didn't have to open the curtain like that." He pointed out as he turned to leave. Leaving Kallen mildly stunned.

She squatted and immediately closed the curtain, covering her chest with her arms and blushing furiously.

"Uhm, I won't tell anyone… Later..." He said awkwardly as he left the bathroom.

"I was wrong…" She muttered, face burning beet red from embarrassment. Neither Lelouch nor C2 were involved, a malfunctioning civilian Reploid and some lazy student couldn't be the two mysterious figures who'd saved the Kozuki resistance group and tore apart most of Prince Clovis's Royal Guard corps in the process…

* * *

"The council doesn't require much actual work I guess, beyond occasional paperwork we'll sometimes plan school events." Lelouch admitted as he and Kallen walked to the ballroom some time later, the latter wearing some of his casual clothes.

"So you mean like the culture festival?" Kallen asked, she _still_ wasn't sure if it was Britannians rubbing in the defeat of Japan or the Ashfords _actually_ trying to keep some semblance of Japan alive.

Knowing Milly it could just be a weird fancy.

"Yep like that, along with the crossdressers ball, the absolute silence party, costume week, and swimsuit day." Lelouch replied. "We had to cancel several minor festivals for budget reasons, mostly because they ended up with some idiots causing massive amounts of property damage."

Okay one of those were weird _and_ perverted, one was just perverted, one _seemed_ innocent enough, the remaining one was just wierd, and the stuff about property damage was just... Why. "What's up with that?"

Lelouch gave a pained grin. "Blame our president for that. You'll be spending a lot of time with her, hope you're ready." He warned her, hearing news chatter in the background as he walked in.

" _Wait is Rivalz wearing one of my spare uniforms…? That damn Reploid!"_ He thought with more than a bit of annoyance upon realizing _why_ she'd strung the other boy up from a pole.

"Lelouch! It's just awful!" Nunnally cried out upon hearing her brother's voice.

"What is?" He asked. _"So they finally broke the news. Which means they've probably rounded up some poor fool to be their scapegoat…"_ He thought, C2 sending a glance back at him, which he responded to with a nod only a Reploid was capable of perceiving at that distance.

"Prince Clovis has been found dead." Milly explained grimly.

"They're saying he was killed!" Rivalz added, Lelouch faking his own shock and Kallen being far more genuine with her own.

" _Clovis?! Dead!?"_ She thought. _"How… This couldn't be his work too… Could it?!"_

Defeating Britannia on the field of battle was one thing. But assassinating a Royal?!

Lelouch's face hardened, Kallen's remaining in a state of shock as she processed this new information. _"Do Ohgi and the others know?"_

The news feed cut to a press conference with Margrave Jeremiah, surrounded by both Britannian Officers and members of the Purist Faction, and to the mutual shock and dismay of both Kallen _and_ Lelouch, Colonel of Repliforce stood just to the side of the Margrave, his towering figure unmistakable when surrounded by the much smaller humans.

["Prince Clovis has been taken from us! He fought for peace and justice against all who would dare take up arms against Britannia! He died a martyr! We must all bury our sorrow… And carry on his will."] Jeremiah asserted.

Kallen's eyes widened slightly, remembering that voice from the Sutherland that had constantly hounded her two days ago. _"Bastard…"_ She thought, also noticing that he didn't mention Elevens at all.

" _He didn't directly mention Elevens…"_ Lelouch thought as he watched the news feed, narrowing his eyes. _"Must be Repliforce's doing in cleaning up the racial language in the speech. The Purists would just rile everyone up by making a comment like that."_

["Breaking news! The man suspected as the murderer has been captured."] The newscaster announced. Causing the entire room to lean in slightly to listen better. ["According to this report, the suspect is an Honorary Britannian from the Foreign Legion."]

"What the?!" Lelouch whispered as the screen changed to show an aerial shot of Suzaku being escorted from his barracks by at least half a dozen Britannian soldiers and military Reploids in a straightjacket and cuffs.

["Private Suzaku Kururugi, a former Eleven and Honorary Britannian is considered the prime suspect in the murder of Prince Clovis."] They reported as the soldier on Suzaku's left hit him for trying to say something.

Kallen's eyes widened. _"No way… The former Prime Minister's son…?"_

C2 on the other hand narrowed her eyes as she looked up from the portable diagnostic station she'd been hooked up to. _"Interesting, I'd assumed he was killed but apparently he survived and was located by an infantry squad who was unaware of the circumstances, and thus he probably was taken to the rear for medical treatment instead."_

["I repeat, Private Suzaku Kururugi has been arrested on suspicion of murder!"] She announced again as Lelouch gazed in utter horror at the screen.

* * *

 **August 16, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Girls Baths, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

"Sorry about earlier, we tried to have a great welcome party for you, but it never really went anywhere." Milly apologized as she, Nina, Shirley and Kallen soaked in the baths, C2 sitting off to the side with a towel wrapped around her body after removing much of her torso and plating and the white bodysuit, still nervous about showing off the artificial skin on her torso as her feet kicked at the water, large ripples forming around her bell-bottom leg shrouds.

"Oh yeah? I didn't see anything wrong." Kallen replied softly.

"After the news about Prince Clovis being assassinated, even I didn't feel like partying." Milly admitted, shrugging a bit.

"Well I guess it's alright… But… W… Why invite everyone for a bath? And why ask me to come along?" Kallen asked, keeping up her 'sick rich girl' act. "I was just in the shower after all."

"Ooh this is just a sort of informal gathering." The blond explained, holding up a finger as if to help accentuate her point. "A little meet and greet in the _**flesh**_. So to speak." She said teasingly. "Of course C2 here doesn't have flesh but the point stands."

C2 screamed internally. _"Why do I have the feeling that there are_ at least _two people in my memory banks who'd get along famously with Milly…"_

"Besides if you'd gone home wearing Lelouch's clothes, there'd be at least one person who'd be very worried about it." Milly pointed out. Causing Kallen to blush as she realized that the logical assumption her family would make was that she'd had sex with someone. "Right _Shirley_?" She purred.

Or it could be about Shirley's obvious crush on Lelouch… That worked too…

"Madame President! Why are you bringing that up!" She replied indignantly, covering her chest and blushing furiously. "Although, now that I think about, Lulu was acting weirdly when the news was brought up, like his mind was somewhere else…" She added, changing mood seemingly at the drop of a hat.

C2 blinked and mumbled something about human females being 'odd'.

"Well Nunna was listening too and she sounded pretty upset." Milly added, somewhat aware of why the two Royals in hiding were concerned but not saying anything.

"Oh… I thought that was kind of strange, it's so obvious how differently he treats his sister from the way he treats me." Kallen said, continuing to cover herself, being as conscious about her body as C2, unlike the rest of the girls on the council, who were more familiar with eachother.

Milly giggled. "He loves his little sister more than anything!" She said, to which C2 nodded in affirmative.

"Indeed, I spend the last two nights in their residence, so I can vouch for that." The Reploid said as she shifted her leg in the water, testing the waterproofing on something more easily repairable than her internal systems.

Milly nodded at her before giving Shirley a look. "Must make it pretty hard for someone~." She teased.

"Wh… Why are you looking at _me_ when you say that!" The ginger exclaimed, flailing her arms in frustration.

"Because you react to her teases, thus making you the prime target for them." C2 noted as she slowly slipped into the water after taking off her towel, the other girls noting how lifelike and smooth her artificial flex-ceratanium skin was, especially compared to the shiny hardened ceratanium that made up the plating on her gauntlets and lower legs.

" _Who the hell made that X guy so lifelike yet keeping him and thus all succeeding Reploids out of that proverbial uncanny valley?"_ Kallen mused internally.

"She's got a point." Milly said as she looked back at Shirley after mentally comparing the various breasts around the room, including C2's artificial ones. "But, really, with that kind of killer body you're such eye candy Shirley, it should hit him in the face like ba-ba-BOING, shouldn't it?" Milly implied as she made a bouncing gesture with her hands.

"I'm fairly certain Lelouch is too busy caring for Nunnally to even consider having a romantic life, let alone a sex life." C2 noted, Milly shrugging in response.

"Could you _not_ look at me like that!" Shirley yelped as she covered herself again.

"What? Oh come on, it's no big deal." Milly replied, pouting a bit.

"Yes it is! Anyways, you're the girl with the well-built proportions, aren't you?" Shirley attempted to deflect.

"Oh…?" Kallen mumbled.

"Oh, am I?" Milly asked dangerously as she stood up, showing off her body shamelessly.

"Uhh… Maybe you should just sit back down…" Shirley suggested nervously, realizing Milly had effortlessly shut her down.

"Yes, exactly… Wait… Is that you Nina? You seem so different without your glasses." Kallen noted as she glanced at the smallest girl overall.

C2 blinked, if she didn't have facial recognition software she'd probably have not been able to recognize Nina either.

"Doesn't she! I've been telling her to get contacts since forever!" Milly said, putting her hands on her hips as she turned to look at Nina. "You little cutie~" She teased, squeezing at Nina's cheeks.

"Unh, Milly cut it out!" Nina squeaked.

"Since forever?" Kallen asked, confused as to how the two knew eachother.

"We grew up together. My grandfather worked at a company owned by Milly's grandfather." Nina explained.

"They developed Knightmares." Milly added as she contemplated her Grandfather's close partnership with Doctor Albert Einstein, who'd fled Europe when the Soviets learned of his theories and had only enjoyed security from being kidnapped by Stalin's NKVD while working with the Knight of Six.

"Ashford…" Kallen's eyes widened in realization. "You mean the ones that developed the Ganymede and Ios series!?"

"Wow you sure know a lot about Knightmares! Those models were cancelled at the Prototype stage. With only a handful of Ganymede units being built." Milly said, putting a hand on her chin in contemplation.

" _Shit!"_ Kallen thought before coming up with a readily believable cover story. "Uh I must've read about them somewhere. That's really all I know about them." Kallen said, laughing somewhat awkwardly.

" _Yes… Real convincing…"_ C2 thought sarcastically as she disengaged one of her forearms to check the seals properly on the gauntlet, Nina looking increasingly interested in the mechanical and circuit links. "Is it true that the Ganymede you have on the campus was the Knight of Six's personal unit?" She asked Milly.

"Yep! It's the very same unit used by Empress Marianne!" Milly announced proudly, puffing her chest out as Kallen's jaw dropped.

" _Holy crap!"_ The Redhead thought, stunned by that fact.

"Well anyway, they never made it into production, the research costs just kept growing and growing until the company finally went bankrupt, the designs couldn't keep pace with the improvements utilized by the Liverpool and Glasgow and they were simply too complex and vulnerable for actual combat or even police use."

"I'm sorry Milly… It's all my grandfather's fault…" Nina mumbled to herself, looking away from C2.

"I'm telling you that's not true. Grandfather went broke because he was so extravagant and we were barely able to break even with the MR-1." Milly explained as she leaned back into the water and relaxed.

"Extravagant?" Kallen asked, this she had to hear.

"Mhm, he'd throw wild parties that went on for _days_. They were legendary, it was always party time. Huh, well at least his party connections paid off later after Empress Marianne was assassinated, that's how he moved over to this country and became headmaster of this school, in addition to getting ownership of a Reploid maintenance company. We also still have a few factories left, but they produce only MR series Worker Frames now, although we did recently get a military contract for a new type of Knightmare based on the series if I've been overhearing my grandfather's talks with my uncle correctly."

" _The Ashfords were close associates of the Empress? So that explains why they were thrown under the bus when she died, without her they simply couldn't compete. Also why they have her personal Knightmare on hand…"_ Kallen thought, regretting not paying attention more to the interactions of nobility and the peerage.

Which would honestly bite her squarely in the ass if something were to happen to her father...

"Wow, you sure inherited his love of parties huh madame president." Shirley said, somewhat amazed by this.

"Well I guess so. You can only be this carefree when you're students you know?" Milly suddenly remembered something. "Oh! Kallen! Are you free the day after tomorrow? After School?" She asked.

"The day after tomorrow…? I'm not sure… Oh! No I can't! I'm busy then! Uhm so-."

"Oh? Going out?"

"Well at 4pm I'm going to Tokyo Tow-" She began coughing suddenly, C2 raising an eyebrow as she reattached her arm,.

"Hmm… Well okay! We can just do it now! I wanna get your measurements!" Milly exclaimed in response.

" _It begins."_ C2 thought as she looked for a quick exit route.

"HUH!?" Kallen yelped in alarm.

"We make costumes all the time for special events you know." Milly explained as she gave Kallen a wry smirk.

"You don't mean like cosplay do you…?" She asked hesitantly.

"BINGO!" Milly replied.

"Uh no thanks. I'll pass." Kallen replied, she'd never liked cosplay anyways, finding it geekish and stupid.

"Aww don't be shy. It's just us girls here after all~. So Shirley!" Milly ordered.

"Sorry Kallen…" Shirley got up and lunged towards Kallen as C2 darted from the bath in the commotion.

" _That little! Oh who am I kidding I would've done the same if I was her."_ Milly conceded as she watched the Reploid flee.

"I've got her pinned!" Shirley announced as Kallen thrashed about, trying to get out of her grip, the two girls standing up now, Kallen's face beet red.

"Mmm… Not bad at all~." Milly appraised as she looked over Kallen.

"Ahh! Stop this right now!" Kallen yelped indignantly, trying to get out of Shirley's grip without hurting her. It didn't help that the other girl was an athlete.

"You're pretty strong Kallen!" Shirley grunted as she kept her hold on the red-head.

Milly chuckled. "You have a nice body too~. I'd never guess you were so sickly." She purred as she made grabbing gestures with her hands.

"Shu-… Please stop this!" Kallen squeaked in horror.

Shirley giggled. "She's getting worked up again."

Milly smirked dangerously. "Now then! Surveying time!" She announced as she headed over to Kallen.

"What about C2? Isn't this mandatory Milly?" Nina asked, using the opportunity to try and distract herself from her wandering mind before the uncouth thoughts got worse.

"Sayako will handle her." Milly replied as she reached for Kallen.

" _Sayako?! What's she going to do against a Reploid!?"_ Kallen thought as the other girls closed in on her.

* * *

C2 glanced back as she heard Kallen shriek behind her. "I appear to have… Oh… Greetings Sayako…" The Reploid mumbled as she detected the Kunoichi on her proximity sensors.

"Greetings. Mistress Milly has mandated I keep you inside the baths." Sayako replied as she dropped down from above, where the Shinozaki clan ninja had come from was beyond her.

"I'm not going to escape am I… Typical."

"Your power supply's effectiveness lowers the longer you operate continuously from what I've noticed, perhaps due to damage you've suffered, and I doubt you wish to drag the attention of law enforcement to this building, nor do I, so come peacefully." She promptly drew a pair of kunai and took up a fighting stance.

C2's eyes glinted dangerously as she put up her fists, her face as impassive as usual. "To quote several dozen famous film characters… _Make me._ "

Sayako lunged towards C2 as the Reploid ducked to the side.

* * *

"Got all of that Nina?" Milly asked the greenish haired girl.

"Yeah… I still think that was a bit much though…" Nina replied as she glanced over at Kallen, who was curled into a ball in a corner of the baths.

"Eh, she'll get over it, Shirley did didn't she?" Milly said, waving off her concerns.

The sound of shoes on wet tile echoed in the baths as a somewhat roughed up Sayako dragged in a disabled C2 and dumped her into the water after turning her back on.

"Thanks Sayako, remind me to give you a raise for that!" Milly giggled as the Eleven maid bowed and walked away.

Kallen's mortified face turned to one of horror as she realized the maid was more than she seemed and then flipped to mild anger as she looked at C2, whose eyes lit up and realized she was surrounded by the other girls.

"So this is to be my fate then… I blame Lelouch." She muttered.

"Why are you blaming Lelouch?" Nina asked, confused.

"Why shouldn't I blame Lelouch? He didn't talk you out of this."

"That's a fair point." Milly said and shrugged before looking at Kallen. "So Kallen, wanna get payback on C2 for ditching you in hopes of saving herself?"

Kallen grinned, to be honest, C2's attempted flight irritated the hell out of her. "Of course."

"I am not okay with this." C2 mumbled as Milly, Shirley, and Kallen moved in on her. "I demand a lawyer."

"Sorry, this is what you get." Milly giggled as the three of them lunged towards C2.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement Highway.**

"Hey Zero…?" X asked as he and Zero charged their ride chasers at a station near one of the on-ramps to the main freeway.

"Yeah X?" The red Reploid replied as he sipped an E Can.

"You ever get the feeling that stuff's going on that we have no relevance too…?" He asked hesitantly.

"X, you worry too much, there's always stuff going on that most people will have no relevance to." His partner replied matter of factly as he hopped back onto his ride chaser as the Mechaniloid attendant unplugged it.

"Yeah, I guess so." X acknowledged as he hopped onto his own bike and the two continued their nighttime patrol.

["X, Zero, we've got a pack of rogue Mets taking potshots at passing foot and vehicle traffic from the seventh floor of a building undergoing renovation near Halsey and MacArthur, the two of you are the closest."] Iris reported from the Maverick Hunters' regional command center.

"Roger that, we're en-route. Tell the Settlement Police to keep the crowds clear while we clean it out." Zero copied as both engaged their lights and sirens, vehicles pulling to the side as the Maverick Hunters passed by.

"It's days like this that you feel sorry for the Mavericks huh X?" He asked his partner.

"Don't get cocky Zero, we're not sure if they have any friends." X warned goodnaturedly.

Zero smirked. "You've got that right." The red armored Reploid replied as they drove off into the night.

* * *

 **AN: So eh, you get episode 3 and the Stage 3.25 Picture Drama adapted. Not much to say since the planned divergence really starts slamming in around Narita, or at least the bulk of it does, course I'll try to make up non-anime scenes when I can but the narrative demands sacrifices.**

 **Again, at least until I finally murder it and take a more semi-original route.**

 _ **Cocks .357 and points it at the narrative.**_ **Soon you bastard, soon.**

 **Also imagine X and Zero are using their X8 VAs, Sigma of course has his VA for Maverick Hunter X and the packaged OVA's dub, same with Vile, while Iris and Colonel are using their unused redub actors.**

 **Because** _ **fuck**_ **the X4 dub with a twenty-foot pole as released.**

 **Also, friendly reminder that no matter what form she takes.**

 **C.C.'s truest love will** **always** **be pizza.**

 **And Reploid feet are frigging huge relative to their body size.**

 **I guess part of it has to due with most of them being based on X and him having boosters in his legs and feet.**

 **God I just realized how rambly these get.**


	4. Stage 4: Zero Rising

**AN: And thus, we begin the (light) action again.**

 **Not gonna lie, having two characters named Zero is gonna get confusing as fuck really goddamn fast.**

 **Oh, by the way, X is in his Ver Ke design although with X series accurate colors.**

 **AKA the Truforce collectibles figure and the DLC skin for Marvel vs Capcom Infinity.**

 **All the Reploids are similarly highly detailed because they need to fit in with a real robot show. Of course if you want to imagine the less 'busy' classic looks feel free.**

 **Also, I'm trying to write this in a way so that people who don't quite understand the Mega Man backstory can eventually get a grip on it. The basics are rather simple but it's just easier to go on the Mega Man Knowledge Base wiki to get the background information than me clogging up an AN with it.**

 **Oh, and to explain some things, I _try_ to use real world locations and structures whenever possible if they fit help ground the story.**

 **But only if they fit close enough to the 1960's AU timeline that is CG to be built at the time.**

 **Or if they just look close enough really if they weren't built in the sixties.**

 **I've also reworked parts of the first three chapters to address some criticism about C2 and Reploids, as it really wouldn't make sense for her to just obey Lelouch's orders for no good reason or not consider breaking off from him (despite the fact she'd likely last less than a week on her own as she's not even close to operating at 100 percent and any further engagements with the Maverick Hunters would very potentially lead to her destruction.) from a logical standpoint, as well as explaining the reason why Reploids are isolated from any sort of datanet in and of themselves (The Maverick virus is contagious enough via _physical transfer_ (Don't ask how that works) let alone over the internet) and to clarify that things aren't all hunky-dory (does anyone even use that anymore? God I feel weird for using that despite being less than twenty-five years old as of writing that.) for them in Britannia. Now Sobran123 (someone who's suggested ideas to me before, some of which I did utilize.) did suggest them being slaves in Britannia.**

 **Except that role is filled by Mechaniloids, who are literally mindless machines and therefore nobody would really object to how they're treated unlike the clearly Sapient Reploids, whom also have free will thanks to their programming being based on X's (Sapience is notably a trait commonly mislabeled as Sentience throughout fiction and in non-fiction, Sentience means something can feel, Sapience means something can think and reason rather than act solely on pure instinct or conditioning, IE both Dogs and Humans are sentient but only Humans are confirmed to be Sapient.).**

 **For an example of how enslaving Reploids can go poorly for Britannia, in Mega Man X4 Repliforce felt they had no choice but to launch a revolution after Mavericks framed them for destroying _two_ cities, as human tolerance of Reploids was at an all time low following three previous major Maverick Outbreaks and one minor one (The erasure incident in Xtreme 2) plus an incident involving the main supercomputer that coordinated the Maverick Hunters (Mega Man Xtreme, of which Middy, who is introduced in this chapter, comes from), _all_ of them involving rogue Maverick Hunters led by Sigma.**

 **They knew they had no choice as they would've been found guilty no matter what an investigation drew up because the humans already had reservations about them being essentially heavily militarized Maverick Hunters.**

 **Said revolution nearly ended with all life on Earth being destroyed because Sigma is a jackass and manipulated both the Humans and Repliforce for his own ends.**

 **If it's not obvious that Sigma isn't a Villain playing the long-con from the AN alone, it will be by the time this chapter is over.**

 **Now imagine X4 in Code Geass and on a much larger scale because all Reploids are treated like garbage.**

 **Lelouch is going to have to work to get Reploids on his side other than C2 because of the stigma of being labeled a Maverick, which is often a death sentence given the events of the X games, I will of course go into detail about this in future chapters.**

 **And in a planned lore-building thing if find the time for that.**

 **Anywho, on with the chapter.**

 **EDIT: Wasn't happy with the way Sigma turned out so I re-wrote the scenes involving him to better reflect his public personality prior to going Maverick.**

* * *

 **August 18, 2017 ATB.**

 **Yokosuka Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

Suzaku stared down at the bagged pistol as he sat, surrounded by men from the Purist faction whilst Jeremiah Gottwald grilled him for any information he could use to make a case.

It irked the Purists that Colonel, who had effectively seized the role of acting Viceroy in all but name, had replaced their kangaroo court with a more impartial tribunal.

Or about as impartial a tribunal as you could get involving a court martial where an Honorary Britannian was being accused of murdering a royal.

But the fact the head of Repliforce's rapid global strike forces allowed their case to go forwards regardless hinted that he was using Kururugi for some other purpose even if he personally knew the honorary Britannian couldn't possibly have killed Prince Clovis.

That the public didn't know who was really in charge just deepened Jeremiah's concern that he was a pawn.

Either way, Kururugi would burn on his cross, sacrificed to keep these damn Elevens under Britannia's boot.

Jeremiah owed his charges that much.

"Do you know anything about this weapon, Private Kururugi?" Jeremiah asked. "It was the one used to a rob Prince Clovis of his life. The barrel striations leave no doubt."

Suzaku remained silent, anticipating another beating if he spoke out of turn, even if the two Repliforce soldiers at the door would intervene and stop it.

"We've also done a little homework on you as well, you're the eldest child of Japan's final acting prime minister are you not? Your motive here is clear." He accused.

"You're making a mistake, I've never even laid eyes on that gun, nor have I ever been allowed to train with _any_ model of firearm as per policy regarding the Foreign Legion." Suzaku responded before one of the Purists kicked his chair out from under him.

There was a loud clicking noise as both the Repliforce MPs raised their submachine guns and pointed them at the man responsible. "Any further abuses and we'll have to cuff you lot as well for the crime of assaulting a prisoner." The one on the left stated in clear warning.

"Attempt to resist with your firearms or threaten the life of the prisoner and we **will** react with _lethal_ force. Everything that's going on in this room is being recorded to multiple sources, so don't even try any funny stuff either." His partner chuckled as he flicked the safety back to 'safe'.

Jeremiah clenched his fists while his subordinates paled. "Help the prisoner back into his chair." He ordered, the two men flanking Suzaku picking him and setting him back into his seat as he continued. "We found your fingerprints all over this weapon. And you are suspected of murdering several members of the Royal guard as well, come clean now and you'll be judged as a Britannian instead of an Eleven."

The Reploids rolled their eyes. "Court'll never go for this now that it's no longer packed with Purist-leaning officers, the Royal Guards in the Ghetto that Viletta Nu reported were all found dead of near-simultaneous self-inflicted gunshot wounds, and the weapon used to kill Clovis had no fingerprints on it, besides, Kururugi would've been shot dead if he even looked like he was going for a gun given the Foreign Legion here doesn't have that privilege. Plus how'd he have killed like ten men and three Reploids without getting cut to pieces?" One whispered to the other.

"Yep, Gottwald is going to get destroyed in the court martial. His evidence is at best circumstantial, and all he has is a motive every single one of the other Area 11 Foreign Legionaries has. Hell, it would be easier to just blame Bartley for betraying the prince and make it a conspiracy, but no, this has to be some stupid racial thing." The other agreed, his voice equally low.

"You're wrong, I've done nothing. And you can't prove anything either." Suzaku stated firmly as the door opened to reveal another pair of Repliforce soldiers to bring Suzaku back to his cell.

"We're here for the prisoner since you lot seem like the type to let him trip down a flight of stairs on 'accident'." One of the Reploids snarked as he hauled up Suzaku and led him out, leaving Jeremiah almost frothing at the mouth.

"And why do you lot care about this damn Eleven!" He demanded angrily.

"We don't particularly care, we just hate seeing the military justice system be made a farce of for some asshole's political ambitions." The fourth Reploid said as they all left the room, leaving the Purists behind in the interrogation room to stew in what they just heard.

* * *

 **August 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Assembly Hall, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

A massive, assembled group of students and faculty of Ashford stood at attention in the assembly hall as the headmaster gave a speech about the recent news of Clovis's assassination.

["Truly this has been a painful incident for all…"] Ruben K Ashford announced over the speakers as virtually the entire school stood present. ["The Viceroy of Area 11, our beloved Prince Clovis, has been lost to us forever."]

Kallen remained even-faced throughout as she stood stock straight and face forwards with the other students, even if she was indifferent to the Prince's death beyond what it meant for the Japanese.

["However, we can and will bear the weight of this tragedy, and from this darkest of hours, draw strength!"] Ruben stated as Lelouch turned his head to look at a group of doves flying into the sky, spotting C2 waltzing around outside, having startled the birds into flight.

He couldn't blame her for not giving a damn, people acting on Clovis's authority had practically destroyed much of her memory data, leaving only the odd files here and there. In _addition_ to the systems damage they'd done.

Thinking about it, he supposed being found with dead from a single bullet to the head was at least more palatable to people than being mutilated and turned to pulp by heavy grade drill-bits…

Although that would've opened an entirely different can of worms.

And _now_ he was wondering if he'd put deodorant on because he honestly had forgotten how _hot_ these assemblies got due to the amount of human bodies that were packed in a single room.

Nope, he'd forgotten, well that sucked.

* * *

 **August 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 walked the totally empty grounds, only a few service Mechaniloids like gardening Mets remained. The few humans not attending the assembly remained indoors as they hid away from the late summer heat.

"It seems so empty now…" She noted as she passed a copse of trees.

Not like she cared why that was the case, Lelouch had told Milly that she'd be doing diagnostics on her programming and didn't want to distract anyone in the assembly.

Not actually a lie, but not the truth either. She'd managed to at least temporarily patch an issue in her emotional processes a few days ago but still wanted to do diagnostics to ensure everything was running properly.

And she'd discovered something interesting in her combat systems while doing so.

"'Variable Armor and Weapons System, with integrated copy chip...' What does that mean…" She mumbled to herself, confused by the terms 'variable' and 'copy chip'.

She'd also found what she believed to be archived weapons data in a section that was apparently only hesitantly accessed by the Code R researchers, likely due to fear of reprimand should any of it be corrupted due to carelessness.

She shrugged and continued walking, sorting out the data inside her head as images and text scrolled across her field of vision while she mentally searched through her internal files.

Some of it was rather interesting, some… Not so much.

Then there was… The weird shit…

"What the hell is a 'Sheep Man'?"

* * *

 **August 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **ASEEC Development Center, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lloyd pouted as he looked at his pride and joy. "Mnnh… We've lost the most crucial part of the equation…" He groaned as he looked over the now useless Lancelot as the maintenance crews went over it.

"Could we proceed without him?" Cecile asked, mostly aware of the answer anyways.

"Pft, I wish. The other units would never let go of a skilled pilot, and even then, none of them could ever match his readings. His operational efficiency clocked in at _ninety-four percent_ _on the first run_ and you want to replace him?! And the only other people who can sync with Lancelot like that are too highly placed to be dragged down by some R&D team." Lloyd replied, his pride as an engineer getting the best of him.

"You should tell them that, maybe they'll let Suzaku go." She suggested hopefully.

"He's an Honorary Britannian, they'll never listen… It's a miracle that he even has a mostly impartial tribunal compared to what he previously had lined up and waiting for him. With General Bartley's disgrace, the Purebloods have the Area 11 Forces in an iron grip… Unless the rumors about Margrave Jeremiah being little more than a puppet for Repliforce, at least until the new Viceroy arrives, are true. We can't use Prince Schneizel's influence either, as the man is not only quite busy but unless we can prove Suzaku is absolutely irreplaceable to us and totally innocent he'll just shrug and tell us to move on."

"But why? Didn't General Bartley and the other staff officers leave Prince Clovis on the bridge...?"

"That doesn't matter to them. Their view is that loyal and Pureblooded Britannians can never commit such treasonous acts. But if the criminal is an Eleven, it paves the way for Margrave Jeremiah to pave the way to end the Honorary Britannian system in Area 11, potentially followed by political suppression against Reploids."

"And what does that mean for Suzaku?" Cecilia asked, fearful of the answer.

"His fate is all but decided… We'll just have to see if our suspicions about Colonel's plans are correct." Lloyd replied grimly.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy Grounds.**

"Hey Lelouch? You got anything going on later? Because our classes have been cancelled for the day, the regular folks have been asking for a rematch!" Rivalz said as he walked up to Lelouch, who'd been talking with Shirley about the Purists a minute or so ago.

"You are _not_ gambling you guys!" Shirly exclaimed angrily.

"Aww come on, don't be such a stick in the mud!" Rivalz replied, assuming Lelouch would back him up.

"She's right though, maybe it's time to quit." Lelouch said, stunning both Rivalz and Shirley.

"Huh…?"

"I've found a better opponent actually." Lelouch explained. _"No need for you both to know that it's the government of our home country…"_ He thought morbidly.

"You did? I don't get it…"

"You're cutting me in on the action too, right?" Rivalz asked hopefully.

Lelouch simply laughed. "I better not, it's not up your alley." He said as Kallen walked away, heading towards the bus stop.

Lelouch walked off and glanced towards C2. "Are you combat capable?" He whispered as she walked in step beside him after Rivalz was dragged off by Shirley.

"Yes. I'm limiting memory diagnostics at the time to focus on combat systems. I'm about 95% combat capable, and I believe I've reactivated a system that those idiots disabled."

"What kind of system…?" He asked.

The Reploid shrugged. "Dunno, something related to my armor and weapons, I'm planning on testing it during the operation you described to me last night, mostly as a backup in case any high-level Maverick Hunters show up. Although if you need me to I'll integrate it into the plan." She explained as they walked to the bus stop.

Lelouch nodded at her. "Meet me in the designated place when we're ready to begin. Otherwise, keep an eye on Q1 and alert me if she gets too close while I'm enacting my part of this phase. By the way, do you have a better way of obscuring your face to reduce the risk of identification?"

She paused as she checked her armor systems briefly. "I have a battle mask intended for environments that are corrosive to skin-grade flex-ceratanium."

"That'll do, I can't afford to have you sitting on the sidelines for this one as there's just too much at stake to risk not having you there as added insurance." Lelouch explained, admittedly he'd rather have not revealed her until the next major phase he'd outlined but Suzaku's arrest had forced his hand, things were moving a bit too fast for his liking and not all of the prerequisites he needed were cleared at this moment in time.

"Right. By the way, put some deodorant on when you change, I had to turn off my olfactory sensors because of the odor. Which is odd considering you'd sooner break your arm then manage to break a sweat." She joked as she got onto a second bus heading to a different train station.

Lelouch grumbled under his breath as he headed off to the residence he shared with Sayako and Nunnally to change into something more casual.

* * *

 **August 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Britannian Victory Memorial Center, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Kallen walked through the old Tokyo Tower, taking in the relics of what Japan used to be, and the Britannian propaganda that degenerated how her nation, a power that had it been larger and had a bigger population and industrial base, would've been able to fight off Britannia due to its rough technological parity with the other nation.

She passed by an old anti-armor recoilless rifle that a pair of Britannians and an off duty Maverick Hunter were looking at, one of the reserve weapons brought up hastily during the invasion due to a lack of ATGM stockpiles and looked at a photo recovered from a disabled JMSDF frigate of two _Harukaze_ -class DDGs being crippled by Britannian missile strikes, one of the vessels, the _Hibiki_ , survived the war, captured by Britannia when her crew abandoned ship and was sold to the Soviet Union as the _Verniy_ to help cover the costs of the war.

As far as she knew it was now a training vessel in the Soviet Pacific Fleet.

It still irked her.

" _1600 hours at Tokyo Tower… But, why here of all places…?"_ She thought as she glanced around.

Ohgi, Yoshida, and Sugiyama walked up to one of the displays nearby, C2 keeping a discreet eye on them, looking more like she was interested in the museum because Kallen mentioned it to Milly two nights ago. Although the displays featuring early model Knightmares and Reploids did have her interested. _"Their robotics technology is certainly very advanced thanks to X… Yet they lack the maturity that I believe Doctor Light would've wanted from humanity from what little I can remember of him…"_ She thought pessimistically.

"It was Kururugi who contacted us wasn't it?" Sugamiya asked as the three of them tried to look like innocuous Elevens or Honorary Britannians just looking at the displays.

"Hard to say. I'm more inclined to believe it was our mysterious helper, who certainly couldn't have been Kururugi." Ohgi pointed out, noting that this was simple speculation.

"Yeah but if it was Kururugi, he might have been arrested _after_ his communication with Kallen…" Yoshida posited, suspicious about the circumstances.

"Then we're in danger here, we should go…" Sugiyama whispered as he idly glanced to the side.

A bell chimed, signaling an announcement on the PA system. ["Attention, paging Miss Kallen Stadtfeld, Ashford Academy, one of your personal effects has been turned in at the kiosk on the observation deck, I repeat. Paging Miss Kallen Stadtfeld, Ashford Academy, one of your personal effects has been turned in at the kiosk on the observation deck."]

All three men looked behind them, having spotted someone they thought looked like Kallen on the way over.

Ohgi looked at them. "Observation deck next?" He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Try to find Kallen, and make sure we look like 'loyal' Elevens but don't go overboard with it, we didn't bring Tamaki with us for a reason." He said, both nodding as the three headed for an elevator, being discreetly watched by C2 all the while.

[THEY'RE HEADING TO THE OBSERVATION DECK AS PLANNED.] She texted mentally via her commlink's connection with Lelouch's phone.

[Roger, I'm heading down now, alert me when she has the phone so I can make the call.] He replied after a moment, the text scrawling across her visual overlay.

[ROGER.]

She nodded and headed up the stairwell to the observation deck.

Kallen walked up to the Kiosk where a pair of female attendants, one human and one Reploid, were working.

The human woman noticed her and brought out the cellphone, a black disposable one, and handed it out to her. "Hi, I'm assuming this phone is yours ma'am." She said as Kallen gently took the phone, looking at it, still bewildered as to why something this complex was being done. They were just some random resistance group not the goddamn JLF or one of their affiliates, Kyoto basically provided them solely with intelligence support and hand me down equipment when it suited their purposes, everything else was stolen or Black Market purchases.

"Uhm… Is something wrong, it is yours isn't it?" The attendant asked.

"Uh yeah, thank you so much." Kallen replied as she turned and walked away.

[Q1 IS ON THE BOARD.] C2 reported as she watched Kallen head over to where the other three were gathering, Ohgi saying something flattering about the Britannians and Clovis that wasn't hammy enough to raise eyebrows, she really just wasn't paying attention to him or the other two in the first place.

[Roger, beginning second phase.] Lelouch replied, the text streaming across her vision.

The phone Kallen was holding began to vibrate as a phone call came in, the caller ID listed only as 'Zero'.

"Zero…?" Kallen murmured. _"Like the Maverick Hunter…? Or something else…"_

Sighing, she hit answer.

"Uhm… Hello?" She asked pensively.

["I want you to board the outbound train on loop line five and bring your friends."] 'Zero' requested.

"What?"

Kallen was so engrossed in her phone call she never noticed C2 leaving the building, nor that she was ever there in the first place.

* * *

 **August 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Office, Viceory's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Diethard stood at Jeremiah's desk, the Margrave sitting in his chair, flanked by Viletta Nu and Kewell Soresei, although the amount of Repliforce soldiers present in the building, something that surprised him as he thought only a relative handful had arrived which potentially indicated a greater troop movement than had been anticipated, and the fact that they had coilarms on hand when the Purist soldiers didn't suggested that true power over Area 11 lay with that Special Corps instead.

"You handled his highness's memorial program very well." Jeremiah praised as he turned the chair to face Diethard. "A little too 'weepy' for my tastes, but serviceable..."

"Yes well, the masses tend to like tearjerkers your excellency." Diethard replied, only showing about as much interest as was professionally required, the ever-present reminders that were the slowly but steadily increasing presence of Repliforce in the settlement's military bases and government sectors to him were a sign that the Purist faction's 'rule' was an utter sham, not unlike the false peace that existed under Clovis.

The rumors of crackdowns and military raids on the corporate and industrial sectors in the Area indicated Repliforce was also implementing their zero-tolerance policy for corruption. Britannia constantly painted itself as a bastion of free enterprise and capitalism, to counteract the Socialistic polices of Europe and the Communism of the Soviets, but in a way that was more regulated than the corrupt and totally unrestricted rule by oligarchies of the Chinese Federation.

That said, corporations had deep pockets and more than a few had policies or members attempting to curry favor or gain greater profits, as did the criminal organizations that had flourished in Japan due to Clovis's lax rule, the invasion had hardly _dented_ the native Yakuza, whom simply collaborated with the Mafia and Cartels in joint ownership of front companies.

It was easier for Elevens to sell illicit substances to Elevens after all.

Repliforce was one of the few groups that _couldn't_ be bought _and_ had the firepower to back up their grave warnings if corporations and criminals attempted to retaliate against them.

"Spoken like a true TV man." Jeremiah said boredly. "Still I have to acknowledge the finesse you've shown. You did well in the short time you had, one would almost think you were _expecting_ his highness to meet his untimely end."

Diethard crossed his right arm in front of him and bowed slightly in a show of deference. "It is quite common for memorial programs to be prepared in advance for important people." He explained truthfully, although to be fair it had been only a matter of time before someone took a shot at Clovis given the amount of resistance groups operating in Area 11.

"Does that include me as well?"

" _Given that you're little more than a fall man for Colonel should anything happen between now and Princess Cornelia's arrival, it seems prudent that you'd ask this."_ Diethard thought. "Recent 'events' may have bumped you up the list a bit, your excellency." He admitted.

"I wasn't deemed important enough until now? How forthright of you."

"I'm afraid so sir."

"Ever thought of enlisting? The army could use more men like you." Jeremiah asked candidly.

" _Hmm… That implies the local detachments of the army are full of corrupt ass-kissing sycophants, criminals, and idiots, at least he has standards."_ Diethard thought. "I don't think it would be a very good fit, combat service is not really my cup of tea." He admitted honestly, it was true he had considered when he was younger, but the thought of some idiot aristocrat throwing his life away for their attempted societal gain had little appeal to him.

What Diethard _wanted_ was to follow a figure hellbent on changing the status quo.

"You prefer the civil sector I take it? No matter, I have another favor to ask of you." Jeremiah said as he crossed his hands in an ambassador's pose. "Tomorrow night, Suzaku Kururugi will be transferred to his court martial."

" _I see where this is going."_ Diethard thought, having anticipated this course of action beforehand. "We should line the road with _good_ , _**patriotic**_ , Britannians, both human _and_ Reploid." He replied without hesitation. _"In essence, you want me to get as many racially charged people into the crowd as possible."_

"Excellent, you catch on quickly don't you, be sure the _rabble_ can see his face."

"Lord Jeremiah, there are those among the Elevens who see Private Kururugi as a _hero_ , some might very well make an attempt to free him." Viletta noted openly.

"I'll be there personally onboard my Sutherland, if anyone even _thinks_ of causing trouble they'll be executed _on the spot._ " He pledged.

" _I hope someone besides Repliforce knocks you off your ivory trimmed pedestal."_ Diethard thought darkly. "If that'll be all I'll take my leave."

Jeremiah waved him off without another word.

* * *

 **August 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement internal monorail loop number five, Area 11.**

Kallen stared at the phone, waiting for the next signal from 'Zero', Ohgi, Sugiyama and Yoshida idling about in the car around her.

["Attention all passengers, if you become aware of any suspicious items onboard, please notify Metro personnel using the nearest inter-car telephone. If you see any **Reploids** acting unusually, please _immediately_ call the Maverick Hunter tip hotline via any nearby phone and discreetly vacate the train car."] The PA announced as Kallen attempted to put the phone away, only to feel it buzz and pull it back up as she checked the caller ID, Ohgi noticing from where he was sitting.

Sure enough, it was this 'Zero' person.

["Face towards the front of the train and look to your right."] Zero stated. ["What do you see?"] He asked.

She looked to where he told her to. "The Britannian Concession, the parts of Tokyo that were stolen away from us after the invasion." She whispered. "And built on our broken backs."

["And on the left?"]

"What's left of the once proud metropolis of Tokyo, the parts that are still _ours_ even if only for the moment, shattered and desecrated remains sucked dry and left to rot at the whim of the Britannians…"

["Good answer. Now make your way to the front of the train."] Zero requested, then promptly hung up.

Kallen grumbled lightly before making her way forwards, Ohgi watching her pass.

["The next stop is Okubo, Okubo is next, those wishing to transfer to the Chuo-Sobu line should transfer at the next stop. Okubo will be next."] The automated PA alert announced as the members of the Kozuki resistance made their way to the front, unnoticed by the various people in the train, noting that there were no Reploids in the foremost cars, an unusual sight at rush hour, and carefully pushed their way through more crowded cars, something that brought back memories of crowded subway and rail trips to Ohgi and the older resistance members.

Once they reached the front of the train, it was apparent there were only a single person in there, facing away from them stood a figure in an ornate and somewhat odd-looking cloak.

" _How did nobody in the previous car notice them!?"_ Kallen thought, unaware that Lelouch had Geassed the occupants of the previous two cars into ignoring their existence until after they left the stations at their planned stops.

"Was it you… On the phone? Are you Zero?" She asked hesitantly.

"Whoa… Do you think it's a trap?" Yoshida mumbled nervously.

"Well? Was that you in Shinjuku, was that ceasefire your doing?" Kallen demanded, startling to lose her patience with the silence.

"Hey! We're talking to you!"

The figure turned around revealing their face, or lack thereof as it was covered by an ornate mask.

" _What the hell? Is this guy dressed for a masquerade…?_ " Kallen thought as she waited for their next move.

="What do you think of my tour of the settlement?"= The figure asked, their voice distorted somewhat.

"Your tour…?" Ohgi asked, bemused.

"Aww come on, there's no way it was this joker…" Sugiyama muttered.

="I wanted you to fully grasp the two. The Settlement."= He gestured outwards with his left hand. ="And the Ghetto."= He performed a similar gesture with his right hand.

"Yeah we know, there's a difference between us and _them_." Ohgi replied as he took a step forward. "A very harsh one, and that's why we resist them." He explained.

="You're wrong."= The masked man stated flatly. Stunning Ohgi. ="Britannia will not _fall_ to terrorism."=

"Fall…?" Ohgi asked under his breath. _"Is this guy trying to go to_ war _with Britannia, like an actual full-blown revolution!?"_ He thought.

="It's little better than a childish nuisance to them, yes you may achieve scattered victories and kill soldiers and police, steal supplies and blow up buildings, but Britannia will not be harmed by such trifles."= The man they assumed was Zero continued.

"What was that! You callin' us a bunch of stupid kids!?"

="You should know your _enemy_ , it is _not_ _people_ , but Britannia _itself_! Anything less would be taken as a group of childish fools lashing out!"= He exclaimed as a second figure marched out from behind him and stood at his side, the four of them mentally kicking themselves for somehow not noticing them earlier behind the bulk of the cape.

It was the Reploid from Shinjuku. The one fought alongside them _and_ who saved their lives at the end by slaughtering half a Britannian platoon and _shoving_ a _main battle tank_ into a wall. The female Reploid's face was as impassive as her violet hued visor.

="It is a war you must wage! But _not_ on the _innocent_! Take up your sword! Fight for justice! Destroy the twisted system that has made the Britannian people _themselves_ as much victims as the Japanese and all others ground under the hell of this wretched nation's tyranny!"= He cried out passionately.

"Ngn… Oh please! That's all easy enough to say isn't it?! Hiding behind those masks! Why should we even trust you?" Kallen retorted heatedly, as much as they owed him, this guy was beginning to annoy her, making them out to be just as bad as the damn Britannians by lumping them together with the groups targeting civilians.

Though to be fair, some of them had discussed such measures if they were forced to, but Naoto and later Ohgi had discarded them out of hand, as it would invite full scale military retaliation for one.

Which is what happened in Shinjuku…

"She's right! Lose the masks!" Sugiyama demanded, although his bravado was rather false now as the Reploid proved by shifting one of her arms slightly and causing him to flinch.

"Right, are you going to show us your faces or not?" Ohgi asked after seeing Zero make a placating gesture at the Reploid under his cloak after folding his arms back up under it like a vampire from an old movie.

If they tried to rush him she'd cut every one of the four of them down within _seconds_ , if Tamaki was here the stupid bastard could very well have gotten them killed by now.

="Very well! I'll show you! But rather than my _face_. Bear witness to my _power_!"= Zero replied confidently. ="If I deliver to you the impossible. Then I _might_ have earned your trust."= He remarked as if it was fact.

* * *

 **August 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **JLF Mt. Narita HQ, Chiba, Area 11.**

Around a dozen JLF officers, former members of the JGSDF and JASDF, sat around arguing amongst themselves, with Colonel Kusukabe and General Tatewaki leading the arguments about whether they should attempt to free Suzaku. While Todoh had already made his feelings on the matter known, the discussion continued well after.

"You can't be serious Takahasi, you know that Repliforce is present, even if the purists are dumb enough to cart Kururugi around like a lamb waiting for slaughter, Colonel is renowned for being a shrewd strategist and is likely taking advantage of readily available _bait_. He'll have response forces waiting just out of sight on the weakpoints in the parade route." General Tatewaki said in reply to the ASDF officer's suggestion.

"We should do _something,_ this is the perfect chance for the JLF to strike an outlying target!" Another man said, being countered by the fact that the Britannians would likely be expecting the JLF to make some form of appearance.

The room descended into another argument as Todoh made a grumbling sound.

" _Too many senior officers and not enough junior leaders…"_ He thought, it was if they had half the former MoD's bureaucracy stuffed into a resistance group.

That and there were various hardliners running their own cells, foolish men who felt that Japan should've conquered China with all means necessary rather than picking a fight with Britannia over sixty years ago.

To a degree, they _had_ a point, Japan and Britannia together would've been all but unstoppable, but the past was the past, and China would have bled Japan dry.

The JLF's time was coming to an end, they'd stagnated and were failing to recruit new blood into it as the veteran soldiers tended to look down on the younger guerrillas and their lack of training, discipline and equipment.

Only the Blood of the Samurai, itself led by former SDF personnel, was similarly trained and equipped.

" _I sense the winds of change approaching, how many in this room will weather the coming storm or be blown away by it?"_ Todoh wondered. _"And which of those two camps will I be in when the storm arrives?"_

* * *

 **August 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Yokosuka Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

"Congratulations!" Lloyd exclaimed as he sat down on a folding stool outside Suzaku's cell, a single Repliforce guard stationed down the hallway in place of the usual Purist faction one. "Those two you asked me about weren't on the casualty list." He explained to the stunned Suzaku.

"That's a relief to hear…" Suzaku replied softly.

"Not so much on your end, you may be getting a trial but there's no double jeopardy for the charge of murdering a Royal, even if the court will declare your innocence there's nothing stopping them from charging you again unless a more viable suspect is found." Lloyd explained resignedly.

"But the courts are where truth comes to light!" Suzaku said in defense of the system, Lloyd shaking his head internally at how naïve the boy was about how the system could be twisted by the powerful and wealthy.

"I expect there'll be more smoke and mirrors than anything, the truth is scarce of late. If it suited their purposes even Repliforce would let you be consumed by the system." Lloyd responded morbidly.

"If that's how the world works… So be it." Suzaku stated, a look of determination on his face. "I've no regrets." He said confidently.

Lloyd simply made a humming noise as he contemplated Suzaku's determination.

* * *

 **August 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Along one of the central highways that lined the Tokyo Settlement, hundreds of people stood on either of the road shoulders, dozens of Sutherlands, Knightpolice Glasgows, and Ride Armors, backed by tanks, APCs, infantry, and finally a mix of riot and beat cops, both the military and law enforcement personnel made of a mix of humans and Reploids, lined the sides of the road. News and Police VTOLs and Mechaniloids flitted about on assigned courses overhead while snipers watched from buildings, on the lookout for any hostiles.

Several Maverick Hunter squads milled about as well, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious as a crowd this size was an ideal target for more 'adventurous' mavericks.

["Any moment now, it's a sight to see… The throngs lining the route. All of them waiting on baited breath. Waiting for the accused murderer of Prince Clovis to pass by."] The announcer paused. ["Honorary Britannian and former Eleven. Suzaku Kururugi!"]

Inside the Hi-TV broadcast van, Diethard Ried looked over the feeds of his deployed camera teams.

"Camera Five's a little slow… Talk to me Charles, your team been deployed yet?" He asked over his headset.

"What? The studio? Let 'em wait, nothing's been pushed back. Everything's going according to plan." He replied to the person on the other end of his line.

One by one the cameras switched to the view of the approaching convoy as the first leading Sutherlands came into view, followed by the hastily modified APC. "Here we go."

["I… I see them! They have the suspect! Suzaku Kururugi is heading this way!"]

"Like clockwork." Diethard said with a smirk before clicking his mic off and taking on a dourer expression. "What a circus this is…" He mumbled. "And I'm as corrupt as any of 'em…"

* * *

As the convoy passed by, dozens, perhaps hundreds of Britannian civilians, as well as several of the police and soldiers, even a few dozen Reploids as well, jeered openly at Suzaku, their individual voices lost in a din of hatred.

X frowned as he and Zero watched the procession, the latter mumbling about this being a few trapeze artists short of a circus because they already had the clowns and animals lined up. _"Doctor Light… Did you make a mistake somewhere…? How is this a sign that humanity is ready to properly live as one with machines if they do this to other humans…? Even Reploids are falling to this cycle of hatred…"_ He thought sadly.

Zero jabbed him on the shoulder. "Earth to X… You okay?" The other Maverick Hunter asked.

"Yeah I'm fine…" He sighed. "But if this is how humans treat other _humans_ … I can understand why some Reploids like Marty go Maverick, even if it's just crime…"

Zero raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't agree with it… Just that I understand, how would you like to be ostracized by society because of what you are… And not who you are?" He asked.

Zero frowned pensively as random memories flashed through his head of a balding man grinning madly while telling him he was 'his greatest creation', followed by Sigma screaming, a voice much like his own laughing psychotically, and the devastated corpses of dead Maverick Hunters leaking coolant and lubricants all over the metal floor of some building.

And the worst of it all, he saw his own hands, covered in either contaminated oil… Or blood…

He couldn't make sense of it all… And he really wasn't sure he wanted to given it haunted his nightmares.

"I wouldn't…" He replied after a moment.

["Voices of scorn growing ever louder! Voices bearing testament to a love of their prince! Raining their judgement down on a terrorist!"] The announcer exclaimed, audible over their Ride Chasers' radios.

Iris walked over the them, frowning. "Why do people have to be so awful… Even Reploids are falling into such trends of hatred…" She murmured softly, X sighing and looking at her.

"Not all humans are this awful Iris, you know that… Just most of the loudest ones… And many of them are just parroting what they're told by the people whose ideologies they align with… Too busy dealing with their own lives to think objectively about the big picture…" X assured her.

"Yeah… I guess…"

["Margrave Jeremiah, integral to settling this case, will be presiding over as acting consul."]

"Pathetic… We all know Colonel has the court packed with officers more interested in seeing a proper trial done than whatever farce the Purists want." Zero muttered as he watched the smug face of Jeremiah approach them, standing astride his Sutherland's seat on the open cockpit pod. "What's puzzling me is why _they_ haven't been informed of that." Zero admitted as he gestured at the crowds with a thumb.

"Yeah... Also I haven't seen anyone else from Repliforce here, where are they?" Iris wondered, causing X to frown pensively and Zero to get increasingly nervous.

" _She's right… Where is Repliforce…"_ X thought, finding this unusual.

Zero frowned pensively as he glanced around the cityscape, attempting to suss out Colonel's perch.

* * *

Down on a Monorail support pylon below, Ohgi waited for his signal in an old MR-1 worker Frame next to some freight cars that had been used to transport barriers in preparation for the parade.

And which would play a key role in Zero's plan.

" _He told us… He said he'd make the impossible, possible…"_ Ohgi thought. _"He gave us his word… That he'd save Suzaku Kururugi."_

* * *

" _Right… Can't turn back now…"_ Lelouch thought as he put the mask on, and became Zero, soon to become the 'Man of Miracles' if this went according to plan.

If not… Well he tried… C2 and Sayako would have to take care of Nunnally…

" _The die is cast… May fortune smile upon me… Sorry about this Jeremiah, but even my mother's most loyal Guardsman cannot be forgiven for what he's done since her death."_

* * *

["Acting Consul Jeremiah…"] A Purist reported.

"What is it."

["Vehicle approaching the main highway from Third. We just let it through as you instructed… But…"]

"Do you believe the target could be a terrorist vehicle?" He asked.

["Well sir… It looks like it's Prince Clovis's personal transport."]

"The Prince's car, isn't it still at the Palace? Well it looks like we've got a comedian on our hands. Don't worry about it, just let him through to us." He raised his right hand. "All forces, halt here!" He ordered, stunning Suzaku as the procession ground to a stop.

["This is not a scheduled stop! Could there've been some kind of accident?"] The announcer stated as the crowd's anger died down and switched to confused and concerned murmuring.

["This is site five, there's a vehicle approaching them."] Another announcer's booth reported.

A smug grin graced Jeremiah's features. _"You won't steal my glory today Colonel…"_

["It's… It's… It's Prince Clovis's personal transport! And it's heading _straight_ for the cavalcade!"]

* * *

"What the… He's heading straight at 'em…" Ohgi muttered to himself as he sat in the MR-1. "What's he planning…?"

* * *

" _Hope they can't tell it's fake…"_ Kallen thought, remembering the old junker that lay underneath the shell of this thing, all Zero had cared about was that it ran and that it _looked_ the part externally.

* * *

["YOU DARE DESECRATE THE SANCTITY OF HIS HIGHNESS'S TRANSPORT WITH THIS MOCKERY!"] Jeremiah shouted at them over his Knightmare's speakers. ["COME OUT OF THERE!"] He demanded, waving his sidearm at the transport for dramatic effect.

The Imperial banner draped over the front of the vehicle's passenger compartment burst into flames and burned upwards, revealing the masked figure of Zero standing where it once was as the ashes and embers cleared, stunning everyone present into a brief stupor at the live usage of such a trick. _"That data on this 'Magic Man' robot from C2's memory banks came in handy after all…"_ He thought, wondering why an entire robot model dedicated to illusionist tricks was ever actually built in the first place, and then modified for combat no less… And why it _didn't_ show up in a history search on Reploids.

No matter, he had a performance to make.

="I am… **Zero**!"= He announced, much to the chagrin of the identically named Maverick Hunter.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" The red armored Reploid grumbled.

X simply frowned, wondering what was inside the vehicle that had caused him to be so confident.

* * *

Sigma raised a brow as he watched from the Area 11 branch HQ. _"Well now,_ this _is getting_ interesting _. Nobody goes through the process of doing something this flashy just to rescue a single prisoner."_ He thought smugly. _"I'll have to find out more about your motivations before I make use of you."_

* * *

"Zero…?" Viletta mumbled to herself.

["Who… Who is person… This man calling himself Zero!? Standing before not only a full military convoy, but one in the heart of the Tokyo settlement! Surrounded on all sides by troops and law enforcement!"] The announcer gasped out, genuinely shocked by such a bold display rather than doing it for pure theatrics.

["Is this man somehow related to suspect Kururugi?!"]

Suzaku for his part stared at the scene before him, stunned.

Kallen grit her teeth in terror, praying to whomever would listen that they wouldn't be simply killed by some sniper deciding to go 'screw orders I'm taking the shot'.

* * *

Inside the broadcast truck, Diethard listened to the latest replay of the announcers. "Zero… What do you mean, like nothing?"

* * *

" _Is he… An Eleven? Or could he be a Britannian?"_ Suzaku thought as the tense and silent moment stretched on as Jeremiah seemingly mulled out how to proceed, even the Maverick hunters stunned into submission.

" _Now to return the favor… Suzaku."_ Lelouch thought, steeling himself for what was to come.

Jeremiah finally had enough of waiting. "I've seen enough Zero, this little show of yours is over!" He declared before firing a shot into the air, a live tracer round from his pistol.

Several T-4 Knightmare transport VTOLs swooped in, dropping off four Purist Sutherlands in a formation surrounding the vehicle.

Kallen squeaked in horror as she glanced around them, Zero remaining impassive and still as his cape flowed in the gust of air produced by the sudden arrival of the Knightmares.

" _As expected."_ Lelouch thought.

"First thing's first, why don't you lose that mask?" Jeremiah suggested smugly.

Zero put a hand up to his face, as if about to remove the mask, before suddenly pulling his hand away and snapping his fingers.

A loud hum reverberated from inside the compartment, one that both X and Zero instinctively recognized, before an energy blast shot out the top of the vehicle, sending the fragments of the false compartment shell tumbling through the air and revealing the canister Lelouch had C2 salvage from the truck trailer in Shinjuku overnight.

For her part C2, in full battle mode, leapt into the air and landed softly next to Zero with a burst of her foot, leg and back thrusters, her violet visor, polarized to full opacity, and white battle mask obscuring her face while her normally extended green hair shrouded behind as per Lelouch's request that she do everything necessary to hide her identity in their first encounter, Zero pulling out a controller hooked to the container.

"What in the…?!" Jeremiah exclaimed. The Reploid, Prince Clovis's personal car, the gas canister. It all began to click in his head.

Was this the same man who humiliated them in Shinjuku!?

"Lord Jeremiah be careful! He's got the…!" Viletta warned, cutting herself off to avoid sending the crowd into a frenzy.

"I know that, bastard has a dead man's switch on it as well..." Jeremiah snarled.

" _Yes Jeremiah, you never saw inside this thing, so you assume it holds poison gas."_ Lelouch thought, remembering C2's entrapment inside the device. Lelouch anticipated Suzaku would have a shock collar fitted to him when Repliforce wasn't looking and given that they hadn't shown up period beyond a single officer that was working with the Maverick Hunters, it was clear to Lelouch that Colonel had just set up the Purists for a fall. The resulting fallout would let Repliforce clean out Area 11 of as much corruption and crime as they could before the new Viceroy arrived, whilst simultaneously drawing himself out by letting the trial proceed and taking out the political powerbase of Colonel's most notorious opponents in the region.

Clever.

It would make his own plans more difficult but the moment Repliforce's crackdown began the criminals would go to ground, after which all he had to do was have C2 help smoke them out once he'd organized enough followers, she was already a decently known Maverick in the eyes of the law and the lawless thanks to her run-in with Vile and the lower ranks of various groups would be terrified of her.

Anyways, by letting the purists handle the situation he'd put them in a lose-lose situation, either he got away with Suzaku and humiliated them, or Colonel took all the credit for capturing the murderer of Prince Clovis by revealing he'd set everything up for it to happen.

It was a shame they would have to be enemies, he could use someone with that level of Cloak and Dagger skill in addition to strategic and tactical acuity at this side.

"Wait you don't understand!" Suzaku cried out before the collar zapped him automatically.

["Can all of you watching at home see this? A high-end combat Reploid has just blasted their way out of the rear of the vehicle and landed next to Zero! The mystery deepens, who is this Zero and how is such a seemingly powerful Reploid associated with him!? Moreover, the vehicle isn't Prince Clovis's transport at all but a replica! In the back lies some sort of device, although its purpose is unclear. Stay with us for more details! And we'll see if this so-called terrorist has anything to say."]

"That bastard!" A Maverick Hunter cried out in horror as they and the other units stood by helplessly.

"X, Zero… That's the Maverick Vile encountered in Shinjuku…" Iris whispered softly.

"Did you see that shot X? She has a Mega Buster like us!" Zero whispered to his partner, eyeing her warily.

" _A Mega Buster…?"_ He turned to Zero, putting that fact to the side for the moment. "Call up Toxic Seahorse and his detachment of the Third Hazardous Environment Combat Unit! Now!"

"He's still in Kure doing cleanup on a chemical spill caused by a tanker collision!" Zero replied as he put a hand on his Z-Saber's handle.

"You bastard…" Jeremiah ground out, shaking from a mix of anger and horror. _"He's taken every Britannian here hostage! And he's done it, without them even knowing it!"_ Jeremiah aimed his sidearm directly at Zero, the latter as Colonel watched from atop a nearby building.

" _So… Are you the man I'm trying to lure out, or just another fool with a martyr complex…"_ The Reploid thought as he watched.

* * *

Sigma pursed his lips in amusement. _"Oh ho. Holding countless people hostage with a version of a Schrodinger's cat paradox, you know it's not gas, I know it's not gas because of Vile, but it works because_ nobody else _knows it's not gas! And nobody is brash enough to call your bluff!"_ "Well this should be a show." He said to the shock of the three currently on-duty operators, Layer, Middy and Aila.

"Sir…? What do you mean by that?" Middy asked, the young Reploid nervous about his commander's statement, the other Reploid towering over him as he leaned down to look at the chatter on his console.

"I'm simply stating it was a matter of time before _someone_ decided they'd had enough of Britannia and pulled something big and flashy like this. Now let's see if another terrorist gets wiped off the face of the Earth or if we have something special here, personally speaking I find this most intriguing." Sigma explained honestly.

"R… Right sir…" Middy accepted nervously.

* * *

"Unit six bring up the sound and get that camera right in his face!" Diethard ordered from inside the Hi-TV broadcast truck.

["Sir… It's too hairy out here!"]

Diethard scoffed at them. "Amateurs…" He grumbled as he grabbed a spare hand camera and made for the door.

* * *

"Fine… What're your demands." Jeremiah asked.

="An exchange… This for Kururugi."= Zero posited, gesturing at the 'gas canister'.

"Like hell… He's charged with high treason for murdering a prince. I can't hand him over." Jeremiah responded.

="No, you're mistaken Jeremiah. Kururugi's no murderer."= Zero said as Colonel smirked from his perch.

" _So, the real killer has stepped into the open, mission success… I'd detain him now but there's simply too many variables in play, we'll just have to take him out when the good next opportunity arises."_ The Reploid thought victoriously.

Diethard stopped and began to focus the camera on Zero, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

="The man who killed Clovis…"= He turned his head to stare directly into Diethard's camera, and the words that came next would stun the world. ="Was **myself!** "= He announced boastfully, as countless jaws dropped in a mass stupor.

Kallen's felt a jolt go up her spine. _"IT WAS HIM!? WAIT THAT MEANS I'M ACCESSORY TO THE MURDER OF A ROYAL! HOLY SHIT!"_

"Aha…" Diethard murmured as a genuine grin took shape on his face for the first time in a while. He'd finally found his great story, his hellbent maverick.

["What does this mean!? This masked man who calls himself Zero… No we can't be sure _who_ he is. Claims to be the _real_ assassin! Where does this leave the current suspect, Private Kururugi?!"]

* * *

Vile snickered as he watched from the R&R room in the Maverick Hunter building in the settlement. "Here's to you ya glorious bastard!" He exclaimed as he sipped his bourbon through the ingestion slot in his helmet's 'T' visor after making a toast in the otherwise empty room.

* * *

Sigma's smirked. "Hmmm. So the plot thickens, this man just might be more than a mere annoyance to Britannia." He mused softly.

* * *

"Aww crap there's no way out of this!" Ohgi whispered to himself.

* * *

"We are so screwed...!" Kallen muttered under her breath as she stared at the forces surrounding them, it would be but a wave of Jeremiah's hand and the surrounding Military and Police units would drown them in a hail of lead if he decided to call their bluff on the gas.

The tension was almost thick enough to _walk_ on.

="For the price of a _single_ Eleven, you'll save _scores_ of precious _Britannians_."= Zero taunted from atop the trailer, C2's right arm remaining in its Mega Buster form as she waited for one of the various scenarios to play out. ="I find that to be a _bargain_!"=

" _This is all one big_ performance _to him!"_ Diethard thought excitedly as he kept the camera focused on Zero.

"He's mad I tell you! Disguising this truck as his highness's, he'll pay the price for mocking the crown!" Jeremiah exclaimed as he aimed his sidearm at Zero directly, panicking outwardly now as the four Sutherlands aimed their weapons, Kallen feeling like she should've pissed herself out of fear by now while C2 kept herself as stoic as Zero.

" _Well, I was hoping you'd be reasonable… But I guess I'm going to have to use this…"_ Lelouch thought, not really caring so long as the outcome went to plan.

="Careful."= He warned. ="You don't wish the public to learn of ' _O_ _range_ ' do you?"=

" _Really? What an asspull."_ C2 thought, rolling her eyes behind her visor, glad it was opaque now.

" _The hell?! What in Darwin's name does he mean by Orange!?"_ Jeremiah thought, visibly taken aback by the sudden and random accusation.

"Orange? What's he talking about? Is it because of Lord Jeremiah's eye color?" One of the two men guarding Suzaku asked, as befuddled as everyone present _but_ Zero and C2.

"I dunno. Maybe Lord Jeremiah has an orange farm or something going on the side?" The other soldier said, equally bemused.

Zero tapped his foot and Kallen gently pressed on the gas, moving the truck forwards, so he was within the effective range of his Geass.

="If I die, it'll all go public."= He warned again. ="If you don't want that to happen."=

"What're you talking about?!" Jeremiah asked, still confused as all hell. "What is this!?" He demanded as a single part of Zero's mask opened to allow Lelouch direct eye contact, Colonel frowning as he watched the mask panel slide open.

" _What's this…?"_

The Geass of Absolute Obedience flickered to life. ="You'll do everything in your power to let us go. Your prisoner as well!"= He ordered.

Jeremiah couldn't hope to resist as the Geass command rewired his neurons, forcing him to obey, the man relaxing as the trance took effect.

"Right… Understood. You there! Release the prisoner." He ordered the two soldiers guarding Suzaku, causing Colonel to raise an eyebrow as he continued observing, as Gottwald had been genuinely confused when Orange was mentioned yet now he was actively following Zero's request.

* * *

Sigma's face twisted into a grin. "Oh now… What's this?"

" _Does this 'Zero' have_ that _power as well?"_ He thought as he tapped his chin.

* * *

"The hell…?" Colonel murmured as he watched. _"This is out of character for Jeremiah… Why would he suddenly have a change of heart without any serious convincing, and if Orange really was some dark secret wouldn't he have been more visibly_ nervous _than confused?"_ The Reploid thought.

Logically none of this made sense.

"What on earth are you doing my lord!?" Viletta asked, stunned by this sudden turn of events as the Maverick Hunters slowly moved in around the lot of them, X and Zero eyeing C2 warily.

"Should we…?" One of the soldiers asked the other.

"But…" His partner replied.

"Hand him over you fools! Nobody gets in his way!" Jeremiah stated as Kewell's Sutherland backed up next to his.

"No! What are you thinking! You can't do this!" The other purist shouted angrily.

"LORD KEWELL! THIS IS AN ORDER!" Jeremiah snarled in response.

["It's hard to tell what's happening from here… But it appears that Kururugi's release has been brokered!"]

Zero stepped down from the transport as Suzaku was allowed to walk down from the top of the APC, the Maverick Hunters keeping their weapons trained on C2 as the Reploid watched from her position on top of the transport vehicle. The crowed murmured and grumbled around them the entire time.

The two of them stood face to mask as Suzaku finally spoke up. "So who the hell are yo-" He said before the shock collar activated again.

Behind them, Kallen walked over, her eyes shrouded by her driver cap's and goggles while C2 waited for the signal.

="As I thought. They didn't allow you to speak."= Zero stated calmly.

Down below, Ohgi activated the MR-1, waiting for the right moment to enact his part of the plan.

"If they get away we'll lose _everything_!" Viletta exclaimed as she retracted her Sutherland's seat into the cockpit and began to switch it to combat mode.

"It's time to leave Zero…" Kallen whispered to him as C2 mentally searched through her datafiles, finding one labeled 'DWN. 010-Air Man' and prepping it for integration with her armor and weapons systems. She had at best five minutes with it due to her ongoing reactor issues.

" _Hope this doesn't kill me…"_ C2 thought nervously.

="Well then… 'Till next time!"= Zero said as he pressed down on the detonator as C2's armor switched to a blue and yellow scheme, her buster expanding slightly as a turbine blade appeared just inside the muzzle, which now gaped open much wider than before, while her armor had taken on a more streamlined and aerodynamic shape.

With a whirr the turbine in her buster cannon spun to life, sucking up air from the inlets on the rear of her forearm and beginning to expel it out the muzzle.

Simultaneously smoke spewed from the canister as C2 fired up her Air Shooter to full power and generated a sizable tornado, holding the whirling tempest above her head, the Maverick Hunters and Britannian troops backing away in shock as the swirling violet storm raged above them.

The crowd ran away screaming as C2 lowered her arm after calculating the risk of catching any civilians in the winds as the police ushered them away to safety, blowing away the Maverick Hunters and soldiers on the right flank with a small but powerful tornado and sending them tumbling down the highway, X watching his partner's golden hair and red armor tumble into a Sutherland that was skidding down the freeway, landspinners whirring at high speed as it tried to avoid being toppled by the wind, before Zero got his footing, opened up his back and leg thruster plates then dashed forwards.

Frowning, X ducked into the crowd.

Kallen, Suzaku and Zero jumped clean off the highway as C2 opened up more on the Air Shooter, the gale sweeping up the remaining forces and sending them flying as Jeremiah's Sutherland knocked down anyone who tried to shoot her.

Zero, having had just about enough, activated his saber and sliced the legs off the Sutherland and cut its slash harken wires, sending Gottwald tumbling down and sliding into Kewell's Knightmare, the former grabbing the latter and causing Kewell's machine to collapse to the ground as well as he fired a burst, the rounds spraying off into space.

* * *

Letting up on the Air Shooter, C2 leapt off the highway, before being promptly tackled mid-air by X, who'd taken that chance to leap out of the crowd at her.

"You're not getting away!" X declared as the two of them tumbled past Ohgi's MR-1 much to his shock.

["HOLY CRAP!"]

"ARE YOU CRAZY YOU'll GET US BOTH SCRAPPED!" C2 shouted as she fired the last of the air shooter's energy to slam them through a window and into an empty office complex, power surge alarms blaring in her head.

The window shattered as the two Reploids tumbled into office cubicles and smashed everything in their path until they came to a halt, C2's armor turning back to its standard colors and configuration while her Buster changed back to normal.

Both of them backed off and aimed their Busters at eachother, eyeing the other up.

"Who the hell are you!" She demanded warily.

"My name is X…" He replied, C2's eyes widening as she lowered her own buster.

"X… So you're who Doctor Light was talking about in that memory." She murmured softly, just loud enough for him to hear.

" _Wait… She knows who Doctor Light is?!"_ X lowered his own buster and frowned pensively. "Yeah… Who are you…?"

"That's not for you to know…" She replied coolly as her visor semi de-polarized, golden eyes glaring at him icily.

"Alright, explain what you and 'Zero' did that back there!" X demanded. "Why did you use chemical weapons!"

"Gas!? That was just colored smoke!" She chuckled, as if amused by his statement. "Nobody _died._ "

X frowned at her. "You created a tornado strong enough to send five-ton _Knightmares_ tumbling, I'd be surprised if nobody was crippled for life by that! You got lucky!" He barked angrily, C2's façade faltering a bit.

"But…"

"What was even the point of all this!? Kururugi would've been found innocent! Repliforce ensured that! Is this to satisfy your egos!?" X demanded, raising his buster again, noticing the pensive look on her face.

"We didn't know…" She whispered as X blinked in surprise.

" _That's right..._ _Colonel never told the media anything about the true state of the investigation did he… The entire point of this was to lure out this 'Zero' person…"_ He realized before sighing. "I'm still gonna have to take you in for multiple counts of murder…" He informed her.

"Of what…? Britannian _soldiers_? Why don't you arrest them for conducting a massacre?" She snarked at him. "They're _military personnel_ , if they didn't expect to die then they shouldn't've signed up. The only ones who should have the authority and power to kill are those who are _prepared_ to be killed in turn."

X didn't really have a counterpoint for that.

"If that's all… I'll be going then…" She grunted and clutched her side briefly before she began walking to the window.

X watched dumbfounded before managing to gather himself enough to say anything. "Wait! Stop!" He shouted futilely as she leapt out the window into the night, he heard the faint chuff of thrusters in the distance, indicating she'd landed safely.

He hoped…

["X! Come in X!"] Zero's voice rang through his comms, jolting him out of his funk.

"X here…" He replied as he tapped the side of his helmet.

["What happened!? Did you get her?!"] Zero asked, causing X to bite his lip.

"No, she hit me with a chair and got away while I was stunned." He lied, she knew about Doctor Light to a degree, that meant she had a similar origin, and wasn't just another Reploid.

["Damnit… Right, stay there we'll prep a transerver at HQ for you to teleport back."] Zero instructed. ["Did you make out any identifying features?"]

"Roger… and no... Nothing that isn't common to countless other Reploids." X replied as he glanced out the window and turned off his comm transmitter, sighing as he kicked at the debris. The issue with dealing with Reploid criminals is that it was much easier for them to alter their appearances, either uploading their consciousness into a new body shell, a risky proposition at best, or replacing the eyes or certain exterior components to let them blend in better. Either of which could be done relatively easily off the grid as the Maverick Hunters and other law enforcement groups had quickly learned.

" _Who the hell was she…"_ He thought. Before remembering something, how exhausted she seemed despite them barely having exchanged any blows.

 _"Damaged cooling system probably... A shame, she seemed reasonable unlike most Mavericks..."_

* * *

 **August 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shinjuku Koma Theatre ruins, Shinjuku Ghetto, Area 11. 1900 hours.**

Ohgi and Kallen idled about with the other core Kozuki group members in the loading dock at the rear of the theatre, Ohgi relaxing as the adrenaline rush wore off. "Man… I didn't think he could do it." Ohgi admitted as he adjusted his posture.

"Yeah…"

"Who is this guy? That was amazing!"

"That's crap!" Tamaki grumbled. "How many times can a bluff like that work anyway!?"

There was a brief pause as everyone unanimously figured that it would never work a second time.

"You gotta give the guy some credit though." Ohgi said finally, leaving Tamaki somewhat confused. "Gotta admit it, nobody else could've pulled that off. Not the Japanese Liberation Front, and certainly not me."

"We've always thought that a full-on war with Britannia wasn't a possibility at all…" He admitted. "But maybe with him. It is."

Speechless, Kallen looked over towards the theater stage where Zero was currently talking with Suzaku, C2 guarding the door, her visor opaque again and her battle mask still up.

She had her hair down this time, although at a shorter length than her civilian mode, which only Lelouch would recognize anyways thanks to various precautions they'd taken.

Her stance was tense, _too tense_ compared to how she'd previously seen the Reploid.

" _It's almost like she has something on her mind."_ Kallen thought as she observed her.

* * *

Inside the amphitheater, Zero looked down upon Suzaku from his perch on a pile of rubble.

="It looks like they treated you rather roughly."= He noted as Suzaku finished taking off the shock collar.

"The Purists did, whenever Repliforce wasn't looking." Suzaku admitted.

Zero nodded. ="Now you know what they're really like Private Kururugi. Britannia is _rotten_ , if you wish to bring change to this world, then join me!"=

"So is it true, are you really the one who killed Prince Clovis?" Suzaku asked.

="This is _war_. Why _shouldn't_ I kill an enemy commander? Particularly one who'd perpetuated a massacre of innocent civilians?"= Zero questioned in turn.

Suzaku frowned. "And what about your use of gas? Or that tornado! Those were civilians out there, you're just as bad as Clovis then!" He decried.

="A bluff using colored smoke, to help things along. The result, not a single death. Additionally my associate held back, she could easily have swept the bridge clean if she desired to do so."= Zero replied evenly.

"The result?!" Suzaku scoffed indignantly. "That's all that matters to you I suppose."

Zero extended an arm to him. ="I offer you the chance to join me Private Kururugi! The Britannia you serve is a worthless dominion that cares only for the powerful!"= He stated.

"That may be true, but this nation, it _can_ be changed for the better! And from within!" He pledged.

" _Changed?"_ Lelouch thought. What was Suzaku planning at?

He turned and began to walk away. "And any ends gained through such contemptible means aren't worth the blood shed for them."

="Wait! Where are you going!?"= Zero barked.

"My court martial begins in an hour." Suzaku replied without missing a step.

="ARE YOU MAD!? THE ONLY REASON YOU'RE EVEN GETTING A DECENT TRIAL IS BECAUSE OF REPLIFORCE, HAD THE PURISTS GOTTEN THEIR WAY IT WOULD BE A KANGAROO COURT!"= Zero shouted heatedly in response, it was only thanks to X blabbering off at C2 that he even knew this was the case despite having his suspicions.

"And for that I'm thankful to them… But rules are rules." Suzaku replied as he stopped briefly. "And if I don't go, they'll start cracking down on Elevens and Honorary Britannians whom they think might be harboring me as a deserter. Repliforce is only interested in seeing actual justice done, they couldn't care about what happens to me otherwise." He stated, remembering the words of one of the Repliforce troopers who'd escorted him earlier.

Lelouch glowered behind his mask, it could have been a different situation if Repliforce didn't hold all the cards in terms of Area 11's management now. ="And what happens if the Purists ambush you over what happened today?!"=

"I can defend myself… I'll take the risk."

="Don't be an idiot…"= Zero gritted out.

"An old friend of mind always used to tell me that. He'd say I was a fool whenever I planned to do something he thought was stupid." Suzaku said, Lelouch tensing up.

" _Does he suspect it's me…?! He has to remember that promise I made…"_ Lelouch thought as his mind journeyed back seven years.

" _I swear… I swear Suzaku so help me… I will one day… OBLITERATE BRITANNIA!"_

"It's my weakness I guess…" He turned to face Zero. "I'd try to bring you in, but with that Reploid of yours and all of your allies… I wouldn't stand a chance… And If I'm going to die… It'll be in the service of the people… Even so… I thank you." He turned back and continued walking away. "For saving me."

Lelouch could only watch helplessly as Suzaku headed towards a massive hole in the wall, towards the sunset like lights of the concession.

"Suzaku... You… Stupid fool…" Lelouch muttered under his breath, trying to avoid coming to tears.

* * *

 **August 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11. 2000 hours.**

Nunnally sat in the dark, holding a tablet TV in her lap as she listened to the news.

["Yes, apparently Private Kururugi has made contact with the authorities, it would seem this 'Zero' has released him. However, now that the original charges against have been thrown into question, Repliforce sub-commander 'Colonel' has made a motion to have the charges dropped, announcing the entire purpose behind letting the trial proceed was to draw out the true killer as multiple declassified logs prove that Private Kururugi was on the battlefield at the time of the murder and declaring any further continuance a waste of time and money as well as a farce of justice."] The newscaster announced.

"Thank goodness…" Nunnally whispered happily.

She heard the door open and quickly turned off the small TV.

"Miss Sayako?" She asked as she turned her head to 'look' at the source of the noise.

In the shadows of the doorway, a blond-haired girl stood, cocking her head slightly at Nunnally. "Nah. But I'm a friend of your brother's so to speak." She said as she adjusted her stolen shirt.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch glanced at C2 as they walked back onto the Ashford Campus, noting that she seemed… Off for the lack of a better word.

"Are you sure you're alright…?" He asked again, concern lacing his tone.

"I said I'm fine… Just a little tired after…" She replied lazily, seeming to drift off and stare at nothing.

Lelouch reached over and touched her abdomen where her reactor was and retracted his hand after feeling how blazing hot it was. "You're burning up!" He yelped as he shook his hand in a futile attempt to cool it down.

"Oh… Am I…" She replied as she sagged forwards a little.

"Using that ability plus a charged shot was a mistake… I'm regretting involving you in that now when I could easily have handled the situation without you…" He said worriedly, not just because she was his most powerful weapon, but also because she was honestly the only person he could fully trust.

The irony that he viewed a Reploid as more trustworthy than anyone else, what did that say about his faith in his fellow man?

"I… Needed… Answers… Besides... the Maverick Hunters would've gotten you before you could blink... And then handed you over to the Britannians..." She replied weakly.

"Just rest okay, I'll have Sayako take you to maintenance to figure out what's going on." Lelouch said, gently rubbing her forehead.

"R… Right… J… Just don't l… Let them… Take me apar… apar… apaaaaaaarrrrrtttt…" She stuttered before her voicebox went haywire and she was hard-forced into standby mode as her reactor began venting most of its heat via vents on the massive plates shrouding her legs. Lelouch backing away from the scalding hot air before approaching again after a couple minutes and making sure she was cool enough to drag back home.

Lelouch's depression worsened, first Suzaku's stubborn idiocy and now this…

He sighed and dragged the hapless Reploid back to his residence. He had a sinking feeling this would hardly be his worst day this week.

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence.**

As Lelouch trudged back to his and Nunnally's residence with C2 in tow, he had a sinking suspicion that something was going on inside.

He sighed and opened the door, turning to drag the disabled Reploid inside.

"Welcome home Lelouch." A familiar voice uttered in a sing-song tone.

" _Wait… That wasn't Nunnally… Or Sayako… Or Milly for that matter…"_

He turned around to see the girl who gave him his power sitting there at the table, folding paper cranes, with Nunnally.

"Judging from your attire you've been out tonight." The girl said as she glanced over at him lazily.

"Yeah, I was worried about you Lelouch, I was afraid you got caught up in whatever that Zero person was doing." Nunnally chirped innocently.

A loud metallic crash indicated that he'd dropped C2 on the floor in his stupor, which _immediately_ got his sister asking what that noise had been.

" _Crap."_ He thought. Well he'd have to apologize for that later...


	5. Stage 5: Euphemia

**AN: Well this chapter won't exactly follow episode 5, mostly because 5 exists solely to introduce Euphie and reintroduce C.C. because some people probably forgot she existed after two episodes of being assumed dead.**

 **I mostly worked this out after totally re-writing several chunks of it before posting it to Fanfiction but I'm largely happy with how it turned out.**

 **And partially because I have no idea what to do here otherwise.**

 **Most of the parts involving Lelouch will be cut because while it works from a visual-audio standpoint it disrupts a text narrative.**

 **That said I'll delve more heavily (But only when I have freedom to do so in the plot) into events surrounding Area 11 and globally than the series did, I always love me some world building, especially when certain events are relative to the long-term plot.**

 **Suffice to say a sizable wrench will also be thrown into Lelouch's plans.**

 **Colonel isn't stupid, arrogant and prideful to a fault, but** _ **not**_ **stupid, he can tell when people are acting out of character.**

 **On the subject of Repliforce and the Maverick Hunters to address a Guest review, the former is a semi-independent special Britannian military unit much like ASEEC or the Purists, and while it's roles do include Maverick Suppression and law enforcement in Areas where the rule of law has been deemed to have broken down in favor of private interests in addition to the usual military things, the entire unit is embroiled in a long-running feud against the Purebloods due to their hard-line stance against Reploids.**

 **And Repliforce is comprised entirely of Reploids... It's not hard to see how the two groups would be constantly at eachother's throats.**

 **Hence why Colonel, who was produced as the 'ideal' soldier, sabotages the Kururugi Kangaroo trial in favor of not utterly screwing military law after discreetly seizing Area 11 on the orders of his superiors to prepare it for transfer to Cornelia's control, while at the same time letting said trial to proceed without broadcasting the changes in order to draw out Prince Clovis's actual killer as he views standing by and doing nothing as a disgrace to the Britannian Military, while also gaining personal satisfaction out of making the purists squirm.**

 **The latter group, the Hunters are a para-military law enforcement organization devoted primarily to hunting down Mavericks while occasionally supporting Civilian Reploids that require repairs normal government and corporate channels cannot handle, while also being on-call backup for traditional law enforcement in the event that they're overwhelmed by various groups in order to minimize human casualties.**

 **Australia is an independent nation in CG canon, as shown by the fact it's not listed as Britannian, Chinese, EU, or UFN until Lelouch takes it and the rest of the world over in R2 as I addressed once before, and the Maverick Hunters while they have wide discretion to deal with Maverick outbreaks, follow the orders of local leaders and react otherwise where they see fit according to their mandates.**

 **In short, they obey but don't necessarily need to respect the rulers of other nations on principle of their title, so while Clovis could easily have ordered Vile's arrest and handed him over to Sigma for punishment, he isn't stupid as that specific Maverick Hunter is borderline Maverick _himself_ and is also heavily armed, so basically both Clovis and Bartley barely tolerate his snark because they** **have more pressing concerns at the moment and Vile is just there because he can be paid to keep silent about Code R if it comes down to that. Because technically, Vile wasn't even _supposed to be there._**

 **Cornelia on the other hand, for example, would certainly not even allow Vile _aboard_ a G-1, let alone on the bridge, and Vile likewise would be more inclined to keep his mouth shut around her as Cornelia is someone who isn't to be disrespected lightly, as she's far less tolerant of such behavior and is actually someone competent. That said, Cornelia would also be more tolerant of Sigma, X, or Zero, or anyone besides Vile or the other arrogant Hunters like Flame Mammoth and liasion with them primarily.**

 **The reason Australia hosts the Maverick Hunters' primary HQ is thus simple in that it's because none of the major powers would tolerate any of the others housing it, as none of them actually want to pay for their own independent supranational Maverick Hunter units when someone else could foot the bill for a force with them.**

 **With that very important piece said, Sobran did bring up another good point to me after chapter 4 was posted as I may have misinterpreted what he meant by slavery, a Reploid's role would typically be assigned on the production line, while they are quite general purpose it would still mean that they'll end up in a caste based system where the basic class of job they were built for would define them in the same way it does for humans depending on their education level and class of degree (this is kind of a sobering fact TBH), with military Reploids staying in military or other highly dangerous jobs that could involve combat or a high degree of discipline, usually ending up among PMCs, fire departments, or Police SWAT teams for example if they chose to leave their military at the end of a service term.**

 **Industrial units would stick to industrial jobs, with the specific class of job being determined by structural composition, a more corrosion resistant model would be prone to working in chemical plants that produce caustic materials while a more blast resistant one with more precise servos would work in an explosives factory.**

 **Medical service units would stay in emergency rescue professions, aquatic models in anything aquatic related, and so on and so forth.**

 **Oddites could exist like a crash test Reploid finding work as a yoga instructor given their flexibility (totally not a reference to Bounce Man in Mega Man 11/sarcasm).**

 **Service sector units, which would make up the vast bulk of a non-military Reploid population, wouldn't be so restricted on the other hand, which could lead to resentment from the more specialized classes of Reploids.**

 **Essentially a micro-ism of humanity and it's own purposefully designated racial minorities.**

 **This stuff is genuinely fascinating when you think about it.**

 **And all of that'll have repercussions in the story.**

 **Anywaysss, here's a couple Vignettes and what is essentially episode five.**

 **Yeah it's filler until the second half, but a lot of it is important.**

 **Someone noticed that an element in CG fanfics is that being Lelouch is suffering.**

 **Lelouch in his civilian life really is kind of the Code Geass's butt monkey whenever nothing with stakes is occurring ( _Cough Love Attack! in_ _R2_ _Cough_ ), and even then there's the cat chase episode, which contrasts noticeably to his role as a revolutionary fighting against an Empire that spans a full third of the Earth's landmasses.**

 **Of course these incidents are few and far in between even including C.C. being her smarmy ass self and screwing with him at every opportunity.**

 **You know what, I'ma start posting these _after_ the damn chapter is done because I'm just getting tired of having to push a wall of text into People's faces before they even read the actual story.**

 **Also yes, two chapters within a week of eachother, the only part of this one I'm iffy about is really the part involving X and C2 meeting.**

* * *

 **August 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **EU Airspace, near the Franco-Swiss border.**

Eight Tupolev swing-wing strategic bombers of the One Eighty Fourth Guards Heavy Bomber Regiment screamed low through the mountainous terrain of western Switzerland, using their ECM and the hazardous terrain of the Alps to close in on their targets below EU radar coverage, one group of nearly a dozen sent by the Soviet Stavka to launch a psychological raid on the EU, their targets, Geneva, Strasbourg, Rome, Berlin, London, Brussels, Madrid, Lisbon, The Hauge, Amsterdam… And the historical 'heart' of their enemy, Paris.

Most, like Berlin, London and Rome were mere feints, approaching from obvious altitudes and courses while under heavy escort to draw off dozens of interceptors.

Podpolkovnik Genkin Timurovich kept an eye on his terrain following radar as the GLONASS system, the Motherland's greatest military secret thus far, kept track of his route to the launch point near the Franco-Swiss border. While their cruise missiles had a range of over 2,000 km, the EU's combined missile defense grids would intercept them if they took a high-altitude course as the decoys had.

So they would have to launch them at much closer range at low altitude, where enemy radar wouldn't detect them.

Until it was too late.

He smirked, it was a milk run as far as he and his pilots were concerned, the only difficulty was really just avoiding crashing into mountainsides, the EU, and presumably China and Britannia, had never truly contemplated low-level deep penetration strike missions as threats since high-altitude bomber attacks had been the norm even as recently as the Fall of Japan.

Idiots, the workers of the Soviet Union would show them the future of warfare, which lay as much in rapidly accessible and readily updated information as massed military might.

It didn't matter how many troops you had nor how powerful their weaponry was if the enemy outflanked you at every opportunity or kept pelting your position with incessant air and artillery strikes because they could relay information to their entire force, including units yet to reach the battlezone, far more efficiently than you and thus methodically cut you apart.

On que, the break in the mountains, which lead to the wide-open terrain of France, appeared through the cockpit windows of his bomber and he smiled.

His bombardier took control as they approached the drop point and began ascending to release altitude, drivers stopping their vehicles to watch the planes, while people on the streets looked up, many only belatedly realizing that they were looking at _Soviet_ aircraft flying nap of the Earth in the supposedly secure areas of Europe.

"Weapons release confirmed." The bombardier reported as the bay doors opened and one by one the twelve internally carried cruise missiles each aircraft carried dropped from the two rotary launchers in their bomb bays, followed by the next missile in sequence as the launchers loaded the next weapon into drop position every seven or so seconds, motors igniting once each missile was clear.

Below, the civilians began screaming and running for shelter, not quite understanding that the Soviet Union had no interest in striking an unimportant town.

96 warheads screamed towards Paris as the bombers banked away, turned back into the Alps, picked up speed and engaged combat ECM, if the Armée de l'Air didn't know they were there, they would soon.

"Eat that Imperialist scum!" Genkin laughed as his bomber formation roared back to the motherland at low level through the alps once Again, once over Eastern Europe they would be within range of the PVO and FA and they'd be home free.

All they had to worry about was the Greeks and Italians, both of whom were still busy searching for the Black Sea Fleet's submarines and carrier groups in the Adriatic following the invasion of Cyprus.

* * *

 **August 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Freelancer Arms Area 11 plant boneyard, Area 11.**

A pair of armed Britannian Soldiers walked through the yard containing dozens of surplus Glasgow units awaiting rebuild into Police, worker, or EMS units. The two men simply patrolling the area and chatting idly.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

"It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night."

Both looked at eachother in the awkward silence before the first man spoke up again.

"...What?! I mean why are we out here, in this goddamn boneyard!?"

"Oh. Uh... yeah."

"What was all that stuff about God?"

"Uh...hm? Nothing."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"You Sure?"

"Yeah. Besides, aren't you a Darwinist like the Sarge you kiss-ass?"

His squadmate sighed before speaking up again.

"Seriously though, why are we out here? As far as I can tell, we're just a couple of grunts who got some shitty job guarding a bunch of outdated Knightmares so random terrorists don't steal them!"

"Mm hmm."

"And we're only here because those idiots they hired to guard these things either were totally incompetent or get paid to look the other way while they get stolen!"

"Yeah because they're bored as fuck and don't get paid enough for this shit clearly, even Reploids don't wanna do this crap, this is a job for something totally expendable like a Mechaniloid."

* * *

Tamaki and Yoshida watched the two through their binoculars, or to be precise Yoshida was, acting as overwatch while Kallen moved in to make off with another Glasgow. "What're they doing?" Tamaki asked.

"What?" Yoshida turned to look at him.

"I said, 'What are they doing now?'" Tamaki repeated.

"God damn, I'm getting so sick of answering that question!" Yoshida replied angrily.

"You have the fucking binocs, I can't see shit. Don't start to bitch at me because I'm not gonna just sit up here and play with my di-" Tamaki grumbled before Yoshida cut him off.

"Okay, okay, look... they're just walking around and talking, okay? That's all they're doing. That's all they ever do, is just walk around and talk. That's what they were doing the last time we stole parts from here, that's what they were doing when you asked me five minutes ago. So, five minutes from now, when you ask me, 'What are they doing?' my answer's gonna be, 'They're still just talking, and they're still just walking around!'" Yoshida shouted angrily.

The radio promptly crackled to life. ["WOULD THE TWO OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU IDIOTS LEFT YOUR RADIO ON!"] Kallen yelled at them before alarms began to blare and a pair of Jeeps boasting machine guns roared out into the lot, followed by more soldiers, human and Reploid alike.

And a pair of security Glasgows boasting assault rifles...

"We're telling Ohgi that was Kallen's fault, right?" Tamaki asked.

"Yep."

Both bolted as Kallen activated the Glasgow and drove it away, fleeing from the angry Britannian forces, as the other two rebels followed alongside their best Knightmare Pilot in a jeep.

And promptly picked up Kallen when the Glasgow she'd stolen literally fell apart because one of the legs had been improperly bolted together at a crucial joint.

All three of them would bemoan the wasted effort later.

* * *

 **August 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Warehouse district, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Eiji Hamasaki yawned as he stood at guard duty outside a warehouse containing the latest shipment of Refrain, an infamous memory relapse drug, the Lucchese family had shipped to Area 11.

Supposedly one of its street names was 'clarity' as it was originally intended to be a medicinal tool intended to help people with amnesia or depression before being summarily banned due to its dangerous side effects.

Eiji honestly could care less about the history of the drug or the poor shmucks using it, in his eyes they were weak to waste their lives on such a thing to remember the old days before the Invasion.

Though as a member of the Yakuza, he had no qualms about letting them use it either. The irony that organized crime of all groups, who viewed money as a better motivator than racial politics, also viewed certain numbers as business partners rather than lessers was not lost him or any of the other native criminal syndicates in the areas.

He heard footfalls and watched as a pair of Britannian cops walked up, men he recognized.

"Eleven." One of them stated.

"Gentlemen, the boss is here as per your appointment." He replied emotionlessly, he knew they knew his name but refused to say it on principle.

"Good, we've done our work in keeping the heat off you lot…" The other officer said as they walked inside.

None of them noticed the Mettaur D2 sitting on the roof of a nearby building, watching them. A Repliforce symbol on the helmet-like armor shell of the recon-use Mechaniloid.

* * *

The two dirty cops walked into the warehouse, eyeing up the various Mob and Yakuza thugs, including more than a few Reploids, that stood around as those checking and organizing the shipments did their work.

"Ayy gentlemen, how you two doin'?" The Britannian Mob dealer said as he rested his feet on the table.

"Fine Albert so cut the crap, you know why we're here." The taller officer stated with a frown.

"Peh, you think that I can just give you a crapload of money off the bat ya loons? You're off yer rockers if you think that your IAD won't take notice about your bank statements if they even so much as _sniff_ anything out of place." Albert replied. "Ya gotta play it cool, it won't come quick but the money'll come."

The shorter cop slammed his fist on the table. "I want my damn money now you son of a-!" He shouted as several safeties were promptly flicked off around him.

"Easy there. I certainly don't want PD coming down on my ass because one of you twos got fucking jumpy. The both of ya need to learn patience, because in this business, impatience only gets you a permanent 'resting place' if you know what I mean." The man said. "Why I haven't made any move for a higher rank, I can take my time, wait for the best opportunity to make itself known, and then take it. The Yazuka, they understand this, they ain't so different from us in the families when you get down to it." He explained.

"You're sympathizing with _Elevens_!?" One of the officers gasped, Albert would've found it hypocritical if they weren't card carrying members of the Purebloods.

"Peh, ya see that's the problem with Britannia, if we gave the numbers half a goddamn chance to succeed outside the criminal world like we gave the Reploids because a' Social Darwinism, our nation would be even richer! Could you _imagine_ how powerful we'd be if every one of the areas was filled with loyal Britannian subjects and the insurgents were in the unapproved minority in the eyes of the population?!" He asked them.

"They _are_ in the unapproved minority." The shorter officer growled.

"Only 'cause people're afraid of the military crackin' down on 'em. That changes the moment someone like that Zero guy shows up and humiliates the crap outta the crown, he gives 'em hope that they can throw off their shackles, something that'd be worse if Reploids were treated the same way, so don't be mistaking resignation for acceptance, it'll earn you a knife to the back when you least expect it." Albert explained wisely.

"That's a load of-" The taller officer began before a flashbang went off and the doors and windows were smashed in.

"REPLIFORCE! NOBODY MOVE! WEAPONS ON THE FLOOR AND HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEADS!" A Repliforce soldier shouted as Reploids in full combat armor streamed into the building, weapons sweeping around.

Predictably not everyone followed the orders and gunfire echoed briefly in the building before stopping after a minute or so as the Repliforce soldiers rounded up the survivors and policed the dead.

Colonel stomped into the building and glanced around as one of the soldiers marched up.

"Any prisoners…?"

"Several, including those two police officers whom were making a deal with the criminals. The guy in charge of the warehouse escaped in the chaos with a handful of others, probably into one of the old metro tunnels."

Colonel frowned as he walked over to the two men. The only reason he hadn't ordered the tunnels filled was the immense cost to do so over the entire Tokyo settlement plus the surrounding areas and elsewhere in Area 11.

Stooping over, he ripped their badges off their uniforms. "I might be tempted to feel sympathy for you if you have some sob story about needing the money for family reasons." He said, narrowing his eyes.

"Go to hell metal man." One of them sneered and spat on him.

The Repliforce soldier behind him 'gently' pistol whipped the offending police officer with the stock of his rifle.

"Take these scumbags away." Colonel ordered as he wiped the saliva off himself, the Repliforce troopers obeying the command and hauling the prisoners out of the building. "How much have we seized this time?" He asked a Reploid Lieutenant.

"Approximately 10 tons so far sir based on the number of crates." The Lieutenant replied as he inspected a brick of hard packed refrain.

Colonel gaped. "That's nearly 120 tons total since we started yesterday! Good Darwin! How corrupt is this Area?!" He asked incredulously.

"I doubt we're anywhere close to the last of it sir, this is just a portion of the stuff in the Tokyo settlement proper, Prince Clovis was rather lax on import-export controls, and his administration was too busy toadying up to corporate interests to actually care."

Colonel frowned and clenched his fist. "Continue the raids until midnight, they'll have gone to ground by then if they have officers on their payroll. And hold the Police back from further raids" He ordered.

The Lieutenant saluted and marched off as Colonel pinched his olfactory sensor mount, or what humans would call the nose. "It's gonna be a long year isn't it…" He mumbled. "And these aren't the least of our duties..."

* * *

 **August 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **ASEEC Garage.**

Cecile and Lloyd looked over the news of recent terrorist incidents as the Lancelot was loaded onto its transporter behind them.

"Fukushima… Kouchi… Hiroshima… This has been the seventh incident since that man Zero raised his head. It seems like every hour brings another firefight." Cecile sighed.

"Mmm… It seems that the other groups are following his lead and putting up a valiant fight… Not to mention the number of anarchists who are taking advantage of the chaos, Repliforce ended up cancelling their last few raids on the Refrain supply chain to help deal with several riots around the Area. Plus the Maverick Hunters are deploying additional forces here." Lloyd added sourly.

"And now the suspicions about this 'orange' thing have cost Margrave Jeremiah his command and title." She noted with mixed feelings, on the one hand it seemed like he was genuinely innocent, on the other he did set up Suzaku as a sacrificial lamb for political gain.

"Maybe he wasn't good enough… Thanks to him, connections between the police and administration are screwed up, not to mention the damage he did to the working relationship with the Maverick Hunters. It's made a fine mess for _our_ testing schedule as well, we would've had the MVS units tested by now if we'd had Suzaku, and thus we'd have been partially finished with the VARIS already." Lloyd admitted with mild annoyance. "Well let's get this over with and go pick up Suzaku."

* * *

 **August 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy.**

Lelouch typed away into his search bar as the girl, who'd identified herself as N.N. last night, nibbled away at a piece of pizza. She was doing it literally just to annoy C2 when she got out of maintenance, or at least he thought so, clad only in one of his shirts, her normal clothes hanging off the wall.

It annoyed him how forward she was, particularly when he'd tried to pin her in an ill thought out attempt to get information out of her.

That had been a reversal he honestly wasn't expecting…

And thus he'd been effectively forced to spill that he was an exiled prince, and the son of the Late Empress no less, _just to get her off him._

He thanked the powers that be that Milly didn't do late night 'inspections' anymore, otherwise she'd have walked in on a naked girl she didn't recognize straddling him.

There was no _way_ in _hell_ he'd have ever lived that down. Especially since he was 'mister not interested in romance' to her and most of the school.

Plus the implications about marriage N.N. had made in front of Nunnally wouldn't have helped, at all, especially since she deliberately being vague to screw with him.

" _Aggravating to say the least…"_ He thought as he looked at an article about Suzaku's impending release, he was glad his friend would walk free but it irked him that Suzaku was such an uncompromising person when it came to his ethics.

"So, what's the whole deal behind that orange thing?" She asked as she set the piece down in the box, it seemed like she was only eating half a slice and then putting it back just to spite the Reploid for whatever reason. "You make it up or something?"

"You know, for someone who isn't willing to answer any question, you sure do ask a lot of your own." He replied dryly.

She smirked and waggled her left index finger. "It's just my charm, besides how can I tell you any specifics about _your_ power, it's not like Geass is a copy-paste thing." The immortal said smarmily in response. "Anyways if you really don't want to answer _my_ questions, I don't have to answer _yours_ either." She stuck her tongue out and then proceeded to lick the crust of the slice she was holding.

Lelouch sighed, both at her response and her antics. "You're right, there is no orange, it's just something I made up. Jeremiah is too dutiful to be corrupt like that." He admitted.

"Sounds like you knew the guy." N.N. asked, closing her eyes halfway and cocking her head.

Lelouch groaned before explaining. "He was one of the Royal Guards at the Aries Villa. I'd spoken with him several times, and from what I remember he practically worshipped the ground my mother walked upon and would tolerate no insult to her name, nor to mine or Nunnally's. Even if he restrained himself from impaling some of the Emperor's less than agreeable concubines and many members of the nobility as a matter of policy."

Prior to Empress Marianne's death, it had been common knowledge that many if not most of the other 'wives' were mere concubines, there as required of the position to provide 'backup' heirs, unlike Marianne whom was oft considered the true Empress.

"However. Following the invasion and my supposed death alongside that of Nunnally, something inside him changed, and he joined the Purists hoping to advance the common people of Britannia, and get revenge on the Japanese… Which made him an easy scapegoat, because the more individuals any group claims to have be comrades of like-minds, the easier it is to worm in the thorns of suspicion to divide them." He explained.

He wasn't sure why, but he felt like that theory would come back to bite him in the ass at some point.

N.N. simply smirked. "Looks like you learned a thing or two about Realpolitik, the Russians would be proud. Of course, that's if they don't poison your food and stab you in the eye with a fork when you least expect it." The immortal snarked.

Lelouch simply snorted in response.

She pulled out a stack of Magazines that had been printed in the past few hours and looked through them. "Most of the world is looking for you, because of you Britannia and China are going through social upheavals, which will likely spread to Europe in the wake of the Soviet missile attack on Paris yesterday."

"Missile attack?" Lelouch looked at her, genuinely incredulous. "Surely the EU could've intercepted them?"

"The Soviets claimed eight bombers penetrated all the way to the Franco-Swiss border and launched a total of ninety-six warheads, the resulting damage was relatively minor, but it has the EU's population in an uproar, fearing for their safety because to them, if the Soviets can attack Paris, then all of the EU is supposedly at risk. Which'll possibly lead to them suing for a white peace in exchange for permanently recognizing the Soviet conquest of the Baltics, parts of Finland, and the local region around the Bosporus and Dardanelles in the last war. Which'll in turn lead to more uprisings as people, human and Reploid alike, inspired by Zero will make their voices heard…" She drawled away. "So is this what you wanted to see? Or do you have more in mind?"

"You almost nailed it, this global uproar I caused last night is pathetic, just a means to an end. When I am finished with the first phase of my plan, the world is destined to descend into even greater chaos, that the Soviets have inadvertently aided my cause is also fortunate." He said, his mind racing with ideas. _"If I can gain access to whatever allowed the Soviets to attack Paris so freely… Then that's another tool that I can use against Britannia!"_ He thought excitedly.

But first, he needed to ensure C2 was okay… He'd grown fond of the Reploid's dry snark admittedly.

That she was a powerful asset didn't hurt either.

* * *

 **August 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Ginza district, Area 11.**

X walked down the street in his 'civilian mode', very much resembling an older version of his predecessor, DLN-001, 'Rock', the original Mega Man, or so the files Dr Cain had showed him implied. Aside from his gauntlets and shins/feet, he was almost unrecognizable as the famous Maverick Hunter X, which suffice to say suited him fine, as it meant he could interact with people better.

It was rare he got true downtime, which made his mild disorientation given the total disabling/removal of his forehead 'jewel' camera all the worse, but Sigma had insisted on it as X and Zero had been run ragged over the previous day, the dust had barely settled from the other Zero's showpiece appearance and they'd spent the next several hours running down Mavericks all over the area.

With the result being that a detachment of the 4th Overland, on R&R in Abel City, had been called in, with a detachment Storm Eagle's 7th Air Cavalry being put on standby status as an option after being called up from reserve status.

Reploids didn't suffer fatigue the same way humans did but they did tend to become overly tightly wound after being run through intense situations for too long.

Speaking of Zero… He was busy on a little 'date' with Iris, having finally been needled enough into asking her out over the past couple days.

X sighed as he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket and glanced around, without his distinctive helmet and torso armor he looked like any other Reploid who favored human clothes over just their exterior plating or 'bodysuit', the latter of which was mostly associated with female Reploids for reasons he couldn't comprehend, especially since Dr Cain had released the initial schematics that'd been stored in X's memory banks…

He just jotted it down to humans being perverts or something since he hadn't been designed as 'anatomically correct' as far as Doctor Light had informed him. Although to be honest he never had a reason to check.

He doubted it was anything more than a way to make humans less nervous around them really, 'doll' anatomy tended to be rather unnerving to humans in the first place as slammed headfirst into the uncanny valley.

He shrugged and continued walking, lost in his thoughts.

* * *

C2 sighed as she ambled about the Ginza district, in her Ashford uniform given her lack of other clothing at the moment. To be honest the main reason she actually tolerated Milly's mandate that she wear it despite not being a student was it was the only thing she herself _owned_ , and that was part of the reason she was walking around.

The other part was that she was taking it easy as the scans of her Solar Reactor were sent in to Dr Cain to inspect, the man's distrust of his former homeland was supposedly the only reason Lelouch was even mildly okay with the thought of him potentially seeing her combat systems, that and the man seemed to be able to keep a secret given how tight lipped he was about the Reploid's X and Zero.

Or so she supposed anyways.

While she felt it was risky, if Lelouch felt that strongly about it following her near meltdown last night, which required her entire cooling system to be replaced or she couldn't even use her armored mode, then she'd abide by it for now. Thankfully it was a relatively quick process, or so she was told, but she got nervous whenever anyone opened her up, a side effect of Code R's arrogant idiocy.

Until then she'd been told to take it easy, as much for everyone else's sake as her own.

It was an odd, but not unwelcome, feeling to have others caring about her well-being, and reminded her that there was more to Lelouch than meets the eye, he could just as easily have kept the program lock Code R put on her in place and she'd be unable to do anything against him.

Yet he treated her like an equal and even offered her shelter and guaranteed maintenance when he had no obligation to do so.

In a way she did feel indebted to him.

Stopping in front of a window outside a toy store she saw an orange blob with a contented face and a small hat on it, and pressed her face close to the window, her 'ear' antennas perking up at the sight of it.

It was utterly adorable.

" _I don't need it… I don't need it… I don't need it… I_ NEEEEEED _IIIIIT!"_ She screamed inside her head as she looked down at the price tag.

" _FIFTY STERLING!?"_ It was the deluxe one sure, but that was absurd for a plush toy…

Although the alternative was buying over a hundred pounds worth of Pizza Hut…

I mean, she could charge it to Lelouch's credit card… But that wouldn't be right, not after all he'd done for her…

Besides people would question why a _Reploid_ was buying so much Pizza.

"Damnit…" She sighed, Lelouch had been strict when he warned her that she needed to think about fresh clothing, as annoying as it was she really couldn't wear long pants due to the proportions of her lower legs, same with long shirts due to her forearm gauntlets.

She only had two hundred or so sterling to spend anyways… And good clothes were rather expensive in the Areas according to Milly…

She sadly turned and walked away, straight into someone else.

She backpedaled and nearly fell over before a hand grabbed her arm and stabilized her.

"Sorry!" A voice apologized, C2 opened her eyes, having shut them instinctively as she felt herself falling, seeing a blackish-brown haired male Reploid with blue gauntlets and shins/feet, wearing an admittedly generic getup of a white shirt, black jacket and brownish pants looking at her guiltily.

" _How cliché is that getup…"_ C2 thought dryly as she cocked her head. "Uh… No I was the one not paying attention…" She replied.

"Actually, I don't think either of us were… But it's my fault for not looking where I was walking really." The male Reploid admitted sheepishly.

"Oh… Uh well…" She ground her heel against the concrete coyly. _"If I'm lucky he might buy it for me… He_ is _what Milly and Shirley would call 'cute'…"_ She thought.

The other Reploid raised an eyebrow. "What were you looking at…?" He asked her.

Her face flushed red. "Well… There's that plush toy…"

He raised an eyebrow at her but shrugged. "Well I almost knocked you over…" He looked pensively at the plush's price tag, Zero would've asked him what he was thinking, buying something that expensive for a total stranger.

He glanced back at the other Reploid, noting that she seemed almost _familiar_ to him.

She promptly gave him doe eyes, a small crowd started to form around them at the oddity.

X sighed at the Reploid girl in front of him, watching her 'ear' antennas flick up and down repeatedly.

He couldn't not do it, she was just too cute.

Plus he needed an excuse to spend his paycheck anyways. Or at least that's what he told himself.

"Alright…" He opened the door for her and walked in, the other Reploid's eyes glimmering as she followed.

" _Zero's never going to let me hear the end of this after two days of me taunting him about Iris…"_ X thought as he gestured at the plush when an employee asked about what he wanted to purchase.

Well at least he had a healthy bank account thanks to not really needing to buy much. And at least Vile was nowhere near, he could already hear the artillery Reploid cackling and yelling 'SUCKER!' in his mind.

He handed the girl the plushie and watched the other Reploid squeal in delight as she squeezed Cheese-kun closely. He found it rather endearing really. Cute even.

But there was still that nagging feeling he'd seen her before… He chalked it up to her being a limited production model that'd been tailored for her employer's requirements.

He always found it odd how Reploids in general were purchased, and then worked off their initial purchasing costs with a portion of their pay being deducted for that purpose until they'd paid themselves off, sort of like how humans sometimes used to enter indentured servitude to pay off their debt bondage back during the pre-Napoleonic era. Odd but arguably the system that worked best for everyone involved when implemented properly. Not even close to true Slavery in theory and certainly better than what the numbers got by a long-shot in most cases in practice.

At least for Britannian Reploids.

He supposed it was the best suggestion Dr. Cain had on hand that would be palatable for most groups. Especially since Reploids could in theory re-specialize as they were more general purpose than their Mechaniloid cousins.

"So uh… Do you want to go walk around…?" He asked as she cocked her head and derailed his train of thought, wondering why Doctor Light bothered programming his creations with the ability to have such feelings as infatuation.

He chalked it up to wanting them to be better able to understand more esoteric human concepts.

"Sure." She replied as she hugged the plushie, and the two of them turned and walked down the street, chatting away.

* * *

 **August 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's office, Tokyo settlement, Area 11.**

Colonel slammed a fist against his desk and growled as a Royal Guard officer bearing the uniform of those of the li Britannia sisters hurried out. He was already irate considering Iris was on a… Date? Yes, that was the right word. A date, with that Maverick Hunter Zero… That he could tolerate as much as it irrationally irritated him. But _then_ those idiots in Princess Euphemia's Royal Guard squad had to lose track of the Princess they were charged with protecting!

The fact that she'd _jumped_ out of a damned window would mean Cornelia would probably be shooting someone when she arrived.

"I'm surrounded by morons…" He mumbled as he checked through the various reports, most of which were the result of local commanders or bureaucrats not implementing his security procedures due to the lax nature of Prince Clovis's reign.

For the love of Darwin they were storing Glasgows at boneyards that were awaiting conversion into worker, Firefighting, or Police units with _energy fillers_ loaded.

That didn't even make any sense whatsoever, it was simpler and cheaper to just load the fillers when they moved the frames, or to use cranes and other equipment to move them! It was literally the 'fuck it we're lazy' option.

That or it was intentionally done to make it easier to have discreetly sold off units be marked as 'stolen by terrorists', washing corporate hands of any responsibility while procuring a profit.

Unnerving to say the least given the two options were not mutually exclusive either.

He sighed as he realized how well the Second Princess was going to take this. "Cornelia is going to be pissed…" He then clenched his fists. "AND WILL SOMEBODY GET ME A STATUS UPDATE ON THE HUNT FOR THOSE TERRORIST HIDEOUTS!?" He yelled as the two Repliforce officers who'd been trying to avoid being noticed scrambled to do so.

* * *

 **Tokyo settlement, Ginza district, Area 11.**

X and C2, neither quite aware of who the other were, continued their walk through the Ginza district, the female Reploid having acquired a sizable amount of new clothing and cuddling her new Cheese-Kun plush close to her. It ironically being one of the few examples of pre-invasion Japanese culture to survive the subsequent suppression of it by Britannia, alongside a few other noteworthy things such as some mecha anime franchise called 'Personal Trooper Huckebein' from which X had bought a couple model kits out of curiosity.

"So where do you wanna head next…?" He asked as they passed a French restaurant that had been vandalized by ultra-nationalist Britannians.

Which made X question why Britannians even _liked_ French cuisine if they hated the French so much.

C2 shrugged. "I dunno… All my bags are being sent back to Ashford so…"

X sighed and rubbed his chin. "I guess… Hmm… We could just head down to the canals and walk or something." He suggested.

She tilted her head as they walked to a nearby bus stop. "That sounds like an idea. Maybe a you could treat me to a movie while you're at it."

X frowned. "We're not on a date… I barely know you and I'm just being helpful." He replied.

C2 stuck her tongue out at the other Reploid. "That's probably not what people are thinking though, especially not after you spent fifty pounds on a plush toy for me." She teased as they looked at the bus routes.

"Fine, movie it is then…" X mumbled as a bus rolled up.

C2's phone buzzed, and she widened her eyes after pulling out of a pocket on her skirt, seeing Lelouch's name with the word urgent on the call type. "Oh… I guess we'll have to put that on hold… I have something I need to take care of back at Ashford."

X raised an eyebrow. "Could you at least give me your phone number first…?" He asked.

C2 nodded and jotted it down before handing him the note and rushing for the train station after picking up when it rang again, not even waiting for X to give her his, or his name.

X looked down at the number and froze.

She'd also written her name on it.

C2.

" _C2… Again why is that familiar… I'll have to ask Dr. Cain about it sometime"_ X wondered as he glanced back at her retreating figure before it vanished into a crowd.

* * *

 **August 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shinjuku Ghetto, Area 11.**

Zero gave the makeshift graves and memorials to the untold numbers of dead Japanese from the massacre a look over as he and Iris walked through the streets of Shinjuku.

"It's all so horrible… Why did these people have to die…" She whispered softly as Zero's eyes hardened, still wearing his armor as he had no 'civilian mode' like X or many of the later models did.

Which had always struck him as odd, as it implied his primary purpose was combat.

" _Because a Prince of Britannia said so…"_ He thought, glancing over at the other unusual pair in the area, a young pink haired girl and… Suzaku Kururugi?

He filed that tidbit away for later as he watched Iris lay a wreath near a grave, the burnt out and stripped husk of a UV-1 Iroquois VTOL that'd been shot down by the terrorists sitting behind the graveyard, a further testament to war's true nature.

Soon, the wind briefly picked up again, whistling hauntingly through the ruins and making Zero's blond 'hair' dance in concert with Iris's brown locks and the bows and ribbons attached to the graves.

The Reploid closed his eyes, deep in thought about one of his and X's philosophical discussions about how specialized Reploids were trapped in their roles due to the circumstances of their construction, X notably believed that each Reploid would be individually capable of being moved to any other job, while Zero pragmatically noted that no sane chemical production company would hire a Reploid optimized for deep sea research without extensively modifying them, which could preclude their hiring at all depending on whether or not it was more cost effective than ordering a specialized model versus modifying an existing Reploid.

At least Britannian Reploids had the social advantage of being seen as a step in the evolution towards a theorized bio-mechanical 'master race' he supposed, Soviet Reploids got treated just the same as humans under their rule, which was not very well at all and usually, while the EU's exact laws on Reploid rights varied by member state they were considered more socially acceptable to expend on the front line, to the point that service sector Reploids had been drafted, converted into military models, given weapons and some training and flash programming, and then thrown at the Soviet lines to preserve the lives of 'proper' EU citizens.

The less he thought about the rights of Chinese Reploids the better, most of them existed to be cannon fodder for the Chinese army as a thousand Reploids could be replaced in _far_ less time than a thousand human soldiers, and even _they_ were expended at the whims of the Eunuchs who'd.

"At least Social Darwinism was good for _something._ " He whispered to himself.

There was a clattering noise and some angered shouting from near one of the old statues. Zero opened his eyes and looked over, seeing three Elevens, based on their builds he wouldn't be surprised if they were insurgents, confronting a pair of Britannians, nosy milnerds apparently given their lingo, and both Ashford students based on the uniforms.

He frowned and watched Suzaku run over to confront them.

"Zero…? Shouldn't we do something." Iris asked nervously.

"I'll step in if it gets out of hand." He replied and closed his eyes again, while he couldn't use his Saber against them for obvious reasons, losing a limb was infinitely more fatal to humans than it was to Reploids, he was still stronger than any human, and he had his Z-Buster as a deterrent.

"YOU STINKING BRITANNIAN LAPDOOOOO-" Tamaki screamed as Suzaku used the man's momentum against him, flipping him to the ground as Zero opened an eye once more to glance at what was occurring.

Iris rushed over to them as the pink haired girl walked back up to Suzaku while the Elevens dispersed, there was a brief confrontation with the Britannian schoolboys before the girl slapped the brownish haired one and the two beat a hasty retreat.

Zero stifled a chuckle.

"Stupid kids probably haven't seen war outside of a history book." He mumbled as he walked over, noting that Iris and pink hair were talking to one another in hushed tones and giggled briefly, like they knew eachother.

Suzaku glanced over at the Reploid. "A Maverick Hunter…?"

"I'm off duty today." Zero replied as Iris and the other girl walked back over to them and the four glanced at the damaged statue, a memorial built in the aftermath of the First Pacific War, where Japan renounced the usage of offensive warfare as a method of solving disputes following the crushing defeat they suffered at the hands of Britannia, the former Imperial Japanese Military being reformed into the Japan Self-Defense Forces to illustrate this point and the power of the Emperor to make policy curbed by laws signed under the ominous shadows of Britannian naval guns.

Then history repeated itself after Britannia used the excuse of Japanese price manipulation of Sakuradite stockpiles to invade and totally conquer the country.

"Is it wrong to be weak?" Suzaku mumbled. "Back when I was ten, the world seemed like such a terribly sad place, a world without any hope at all in the aftermath of the invasion."

"Starvation, disease, filth, poverty, corruption, decay, racism, endless war and terrorism…" He continued, unaware that Lelouch was giving a nearly identical speech to N.N. and C2 at that moment. "The entire world's living in a never-ending cycle of hate…"

His gaze hardened. "The cycle must be broken… Somebody has to do it…"

Zero raised an eyebrow. _"He's almost as idealistic as X…"_

"Of course, it's doubtful that the one who does it will make all the evil in the world disappear. Still… Nobody should lose more of the people they love. At least, a world without war, even if only for a few generations…"

"How would you do it…?" Euphie asked as Iris and Zero watched.

"It's simple… All wars end when somebody wins." Suzaku said at the exact moment Lelouch illustrated his own point by knocking down the Black King with the White Knight. "I don't know how someone'd actually do it, but if I stop trying… Then my father's death will have been in vain." He continued as he looked at the clock face of the disabled pocket-watch.

"The Prime Minister's death…?" Euphie asked as Zero and Iris exchanged a questioning glance.

Suzaku's tone shifted, becoming a bit more intense than normal. "My own father died… Because he had to sacrifice his life in that war!" He spat out.

Any remark Zero would've made was cut off by the sound of an explosion coming from the old National Sports Arena, the four of them turning to see smoke billowing into the sky as a flock of birds took to the air.

"What in the..." Zero exclaimed as Iris covered her mouth in shock.

* * *

 **August 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Former National Sports Arena, Shinjuku Ghetto, Area 11.**

Jeremiah's Sutherland faced down four other Purist faction units, having narrowly avoided an blast that would have ripped his Knightmare to shreds, the affected area of the stadium still burning as a result.

His own machine was equipped with a standard assault rifle, which didn't comfort him in the slightest as the four other Sutherlands were equipped with lances.

[" **JEREMIAH!** You're going to pay for letting Prince Clovis's murderer walk free!"] Kewell sneered over his Frame's external speakers.

"Kewell! You cowardly cur! That sighting of Zero was just bait wasn't it!" Jeremiah snarled in response.

["We have to wipe away our disgrace before Princess Cornelia takes up her post here."] Kewell replied calmly. ["This is how we keep our officials honest."] The other Purist stated ominously.

" _Honest?! What drivel are you spouting man!?"_ Jeremiah thought as his hands clenched tighter on the controls. _"Do you mean to kill me?!"_

* * *

Outside the Arena, the ASEEC transport trailer screeched to a halt next to the four as Zero rushed off towards the stadium.

"Suzaku!" Cecile exclaimed as she opened the passenger side door of the truck as it performed a rolling stop, Lloyd poking his head out as well. "It's dangerous here! Get in!" She shouted.

"The Purebloods are having a silly squabble, so we'd better get out of here. Oh! And by the way, a shame about your acquittal, because now you'll have to work for me again." He hummed as he turned to climb back into his seat.

"Wait! Please." Suzaku cried out, catching his attention. "Isn't this an opportunity to gather battle data for the Lancelot?" He asked, knowing Lloyd would be hard pressed to refuse such suggestions.

Cecile gasped as Lloyd turned around, impressed by Suzaku's savvy. "Oho."

"Suzaku…?" Euphie began as Iris magnified her vision on a red blur leaping up the side of the arena.

"I'm sorry Euphie, we have to say goodbye here." He said as he unshouldered his bag. "I need to do this, I think I can stop them with the Lancelot. I have to try… I... I must do it!"

" _He's so determined to stop a pointless battle… Could he potentially become my Knight?"_ Euphie thought, it wasn't long until she would have her public unveiling as a governing Royal, and she'd need a Knight to be her bodyguard and confidant for both traditional and for pragmatic reasons.

She would have to watch him further… _And_ somehow convince her older sister to allow an Eleven to become her knight if he proved up to the task.

* * *

Inside the Arena, a quick strike from Kewell machine knocked Jeremiah's Sutherland back, his own machine's rifle being flung out of its hands in the process, a brief jab from Kewell's lance rendering it inoperable.

["Damn… It's four against one… **COWARDS!** "] Jeremiah shouted, rage simmering in his voice, as he activated the left arm's stun tonfa and barely blocked an attempted coup de grace from Kewell.

["Don't worry Jeremiah."] Kewell replied. ["We'll say you died in battle, your family's name won't be disgraced. I'll tell Lilycia that the Elevens got a lucky shot on you while you were hunting down Zero."]

Kewell fell back and another Sutherland jabbed their lance into Jeremiah's right landspinner, crippling his mobility.

["You're serious then… You _actually_ intend to kill me?! **KEWELL YOU MANGY BASTARD!** "] He roared as he unfurled the stun tonfa totally and made an admittedly pitiful swing at the offending Knightmare, the other machine backing away and cordoning Jeremiah in a cross formation with the remaining Sutherlands.

Far above them, on the wall of the arena, Zero frowned as he aimed his Z-Buster, he had no love for the purists but he couldn't idly sit by and let them do this.

He lowered his buster briefly, thinking about the consequences of breaking protocol like this, sure he was saving a human life but he wasn't quite sure if this was within his jurisdiction, as Maverick Hunters were expressly forbidden from looking for incidents like these.

[" **SILENCE ORANGE!** We serve the Imperial Family, why else would we be here?!"] Kewell taunted, knowing it would get under Jeremiah's skin as all four of the assassins revved their landspinners and charged forwards, their lances leveled and ready to impale Jeremiah's Sutherland from all angles, leaving no hope of survival.

["You're here to save you own skins!"] Jeremiah yelled in response.

If that had any effect on them they didn't show it. [" **ALL! HAIL! BRITANNIA!** "] They shouted in unison as four slash harkens rained down upon them, forcing them to back off.

Kewell gaped as he looked up, his Frame's head following the movement and spotting the Lancelot standing atop part of the grandstands ["STOP IT! YOU'RE ALL BRITANNIAN SOLDIERS!"] Suzaku pleaded as the slash harkens began to retract.

["That's him… It's that Honorary Britannian… The pilot of that advanced weapon… The Lancelot!"] Jeremiah gasped as he looked at his potential savior, a young man whom a mere day ago he was trying to get _executed_.

Suzaku remained even-faced as Kewell spoke up somewhat shakily as Zero watched from the shadows, the Reploid frowning, as much as he wanted to get involved, the situation seemed under control, Kururugi had singlehandedly defeated the vast bulk of the Shinjuku terrorists, while in a frame only armed with four slash harkens no less, according to the internal memo from his trial.

A mere four Sutherlands would be nothing to him.

Besides, Sigma would have his ass if he tried to vigilante a bunch of Purists without a valid cause.

["What business does the Special Corps have here? All Interlopers will die!"] Kewell threatened.

Zero smirked, now he had an excuse to intervene.

He aimed his buster and charged a shot, blowing the right arm of one of the frames off when he fired the bluish energy bolt.

["WHAT?!"]

Zero leapt into the air and drew his Saber, igniting the emerald blade as he landed in front of Jeremiah's frame.

"Kewell Soresei, by the authority granted to me by the Maverick Hunters, with the authorization of the Britannian Crown, I hereby place you and your followers under arrest for multiple counts of attempted murder, misappropriation of military equipment in the use of a criminal act, destruction of military property, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you at your court martials." Zero stated as he stared down Kewell's Knightmare.

["A… Maverick Hunter… Z... Zero..."] Jeremiah whispered under his breath.

The Lancelot exchanged a nod with Zero. ["Neither him nor I can stand by and ignore this senseless battle! Please stand down!"] Suzaku pleaded as he drew the twin Maser Vibration Swords and activated them, their blades turning blood red, Kewell and his subordinates starting to quake slightly.

["Oh my god… They've perfected the MVS…"] Kewell breathed in horror before his resolve hardened. ["Too late, I won't back down!"]

The four Sutherlands fired their slash harkens at the Lancelot, missing entirely as Zero turned his free arm into his Z-Buster and shot one of the mounts off the Sutherland to his left, Suzaku slicing his way through a second hail of harkens on his way down. ["We're on the _same side_!"] Suzaku grunted, his patience beginning to wear thin with Kewell's antics.

["Suzaku Kururugi… Is saving _me…_?"] Jeremiah whispered, simply unable to believe that this was actually happening, the young man whom he'd literally was trying to get found guilty of several of the most serious crimes in Britannia for his own political gain _was saving his life_.

Suzaku parried away a blow from a lance before cleaving the weapon of a second unit, and part of the machine's arm, in two as Zero leapt onto the first frame he engaged and cleaved its head off, the Sutherland now totally combat inoperable due to lack of targeting sensors.

Kewell snarled. [" **WE CAN AT LEAST KILL ORANGE!** "] He shouted and charged at Jeremiah's Sutherland, only to be knocked back by the sudden appearance of a _sixth_ Sutherland.

["Lord Jeremiah!"] Viletta said as she took aim at Kewell with her machine's rifle.

["Viletta! Thanks…"] He breathed out as he watched Kewell back off, Zero, Suzaku, and Viletta taking formation around him protectively as Kewell and his men considered their options.

["So… You still wanna fight?"] Suzaku asked as he remained in a fighting stance, unaware that Euphie was running into the area through an abandoned entryway with Iris.

Out of options, Kewell decided to go with his last resort. ["Men… Stand down…"] He ordered, the other frames backing off.

["Kewell…"] Viletta murmured as Zero narrowed his eyes.

["You understand then."] Suzaku said, relieved.

"No he doesn't…" Zero replied as he aimed his buster at Kewell's frame and prepared to fire.

["I'm using a chaos mine!"] Kewell stated as the righthand thigh guard of the Sutherland opened and the grenade unlocked from its stowage rack.

At that moment Euphie and Iris entered the arena, Zero spotting them, eyes wide. " **IRIS! EUPHIE! GET OUT OF HERE!** " He yelled, distracted by their sudden appearance.

"NO! STOP THIS! NOW!" The pink haired girl shouted in vain as Kewell tossed the weapon.

Jeremiah said something in bewilderment as time seemed to slow for Zero while the chaos mine began to spin up in preparation for firing its deadly hail of shrapnel.

Short of a miracle, they'd be ripped to shreds.

Suzaku's eyes widened and he activated the Blaze Luminous barriers and placed the Lancelot directly between the vast bulk of the shrapnel and the others, the Yggdrasil Drive going into full ME boost mode to withstand the strain of the chaos mine's barrage.

Zero moved between the hail of fragments and Iris and Euphie to act as a final layer of ablative armor as they, Viletta, and Jeremiah took shelter behind the Lancelot's blaze luminous as a fusillade of super-high-velocity metal fragments pelted them, tearing chunks out of the exposed parts of the Lancelot and Sutherlands.

It seemed like ages before the mine ran out of ammo and fell from the sky with a worthless thud as Euphie turned to look at the Purists.

["That Honorary Britannian… He risked his life for…"] Viletta said, incredulous given what she just witnessed.

"Everyone! Lower your weapons at once!" Euphie stated, her voice stern and commanding now as she strode forwards, everyone but Iris confused for the moment as they contemplated this change in character. "In my name I _command you_!"

"What…" Zero whispered, stunned as he put the pieces together.

["It can't be…"] Kewell breathed, realizing the enormity of his error in throwing that mine.

"I am Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Imperial Family." She pronounced, leaving Suzaku gaping in disbelief.

["Euphie…"]

"I am assuming command here! Lay down your arms and cease all further hostilities!" Euphie ordered with the full force of a Royal decree.

["It is her… It's Princess Euphemia…"] Jeremiah whispered, realizing how much she'd grown, as a young woman and a Princess of the Realm, since those humble days when she visited the Aries Villa.

Cecile for her part was as shocked as the others, having arrived late with Lloyd, lowering the plastic riot shield she was holding. "Did you know it was her Lloyd…?" She whispered.

"Uh huh." He admitted nonchalantly. "But she's been a student up until now and hasn't made her public debut as a member of government yet."

The six Sutherland units knelt in unison with Iris, left arms across their chests in the same manner as the Reploid. ["We… We're truly… WE'RE TRULY SORRY YOUR HIGHNESS!"] Kewell repented as Suzaku dismounted from the Lancelot and jogged over to Euphie.

"My lady!" Suzaku said as he stood before her. "I had no idea who you were, please forgive me Princess."

She turned her head to look at Suzaku, eyeing him with a stern look. "Suzaku. You and I bear a similar deep pain, you have lost your father as I have lost my brother." She stated, causing Suzaku's eyes to widen.

" _But the exact way they died is different…"_ He thought guiltily.

Turning to face him, she continued. "Will you let me help you in your quest to ensure that no-one ever again has to suffer the loss of a loved one on the battlefield?" She asked, smiling softly at him as he kneeled before her, left arm across his chest like everyone present but Zero, whom simply saluted as was protocol for Maverick Hunters greeting foreign dignitaries.

"Yes… I'm unworthy of your kindness…" Suzaku replied as her smile grew slightly while a rumble picked up in the background.

" _Oh, my Princess… If only you knew how true those words were…"_ Suzaku thought grimly as an octet of T-4 VTOLs, backed by four AV-1 Cobra Gunships and six utility transport UV-1s roared in, spotlights illuminating the gathering as additional Sutherlands detached from the T-4s and moved to secure Kewell and his men while the military police detachment rappelled down.

Kewell and his co-conspirators offered no resistance to them as they exited their Knightmares and were handcuffed after being stripped of all weaponry and ammo.

Zero sighed as he watched them be taken away before he felt a tapping on his shoulder and turned to see a rather irate looking Sigma, backed by a full squad of Maverick Hunters, standing there with his arms crossed.

He gulped nervously.

"Zero... I expected better of you than to intervene in things like this... Even if it was the right thing to do." Sigma said flatly. "That said I can't just let you walk unpunished otherwise it'd embolden others like Vile, who's still on backup duty following his little _side mission_ in Shinjuku I might add, so you're confined to barracks for tomorrow as a probationary measure."

"Yes sir..." He conceded sheepishly, well aware that he'd been expected to be more professional.

Sigma turned and led Zero away, the latter flanked by eight Maverick Hunters armed with assault rifles as Iris watched pensively from afar.

* * *

 **August 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Airstrip, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"I heard what you did Euphemia." Cornelia stated calmly as her younger sister, flanked by Colonel and Iris, greeted her upon her arrival in Area 11. "You shouldn't be so reckless…" She warned.

"I know sister… Forgive me… But…" Euphie began before her sister shook her head.

"You will address me _Viceroy_ here _Sub-Viceroy Euphemia._ " Cornelia responded, not so subtly reminding her sister that their dynamic had changed, Euphie holding off a frown as it meant she could no longer act so candid around Iris or her brother either, as both Reploids held themselves at full military attention right now. "Because we're sisters we need to follow a stricter protocol lest we be accused of nepotism." Cornelia explained.

"Yes… I understand." Euphie replied begrudgingly, Cornelia nodding, knowing how difficult such a shift would be initially before turning to one of the administration officials. "Now then… Give me your report." She requested of him, Colonel raising an eyebrow subtly.

The man put his right hand over his heart in a show of deference and began to speak. "Yes, the first matter of business is a welcome party we arranged for your highness."

Cornelia promptly aimed her ceremonial longarm at him and flicked the safety off, stunning everyone but Colonel and her own guards. "Sloppy. _Senile_. **Corrupt**." She sighed. "It's no wonder it took Repliforce to get _anything_ meaningful done here." Her expression immediately changed to one of barely contained anger. " **WHERE IS ZERO!?** " She demanded, referring to the more infamous terrorists rather than the Maverick Hunter. " **I WANT THE ENEMY OF THE EMPIRE CAUGHT! GET! ZERO!** " She ordered furiously.

Nobody dared question her.

* * *

 **August 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Yokosuka Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

Jeremiah Gottwald frowned as he watched Kewell stew in his cell. It had only been thanks to Colonel that he hadn't been arrested himself, only demoted down to Warrant Officer and formally stripped of the title of Margrave, something he found tolerable as at least it wasn't a formal reprimand, the Reploid having convinced Princess Cornelia that 'Zero' had access to some form of mind control tech or ability and had played off them knowing eachother from their days in Empress Marianne's Royal Guard to help with that.

He supposed he owed Colonel for that... He hated it.

Admittedly that only drove her determination to hunt the terrorist down that much more, if he could mind control soldiers into abandoning their posts or aiding his cause even if only briefly, what was stopping him from implanting unknowing sleeper agents in every corner of the Empire, to say nothing of putting them across the entire planet and setting the world ablaze?

The thought was so terrifying Jeremiah doubted he would ever sleep truly soundly again.

It was for that reason the information had been kept need to know. Even if it was just a theory the public would go into an absolute panic at the mere suggestion and their forces would descend into rampant paranoia.

And without proof Zero could just claim they were trying to enact a smear campaign.

Jeremiah sighed. "Damnit Kewell… What do I tell _your_ sister?" He grumbled as he watched the other man glare at him.

Kewell said nothing as a pair of guards walked up.

"Warrant Officer Jeremiah. Visiting hours are about to end, I suggest you take your leave sir." One of the men said, Jeremiah nodding and standing up before looking back at Kewell one last time.

"You know… I considered you a _friend_ before today…" He said before walking away, his face hardened.

He'd get Zero for this… That masked bastard would pay for all the lives he'd ruined so far.

So help him.

Now… He had to go apologize to Suzaku Kururugi for his previous behavior…

And endure more prattle from Lloyd in the process…

"The things I put up with for an old college 'buddy'…" He groused as he walked out.

He supposed he'd have to call his own sister, just to ensure she was alright.

* * *

 **August 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Area 11 Regional HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

X walked through the halls of the Maverick Hunter regional HQ, now in full armor once again.

He'd been called back onto duty after Zero got reprimanded by Sigma for jumping the gun regarding the Purists when the Lancelot could easily have handled the situation by itself.

Which left X in a tough spot now that he too had been called into Sigma's office.

X walked in and saluted. "Sir!"

Sigma looked at him. "At ease X." He watched X go to parade rest. "You seem tenser than usual, is something the matter?"

"Uh… No sir…"

Sigma raised a brow. "I see… Well I have an assignment for you from Dr. Cain."

 _That_ caught X off guard. "Dr. Cain…?"

"He wants you to accompany a Reploid from Ashford to Abel City for repairs to their solar reactor and other systems." Sigma stated as he glanced over the orders. "Apparently the damage is bad enough that they require a full overhaul of their entire power supply and cooling system, it would be handled locally except the reactor isn't a production type so Douglas was commissioned to build new parts."

" _Why me… Isn't this something one of the rank and file can handle…?"_ X thought, but kept his mouth shut.

Nonetheless, a request from Dr. Cain couldn't just be ignored. "Understood sir." X replied as he gathered his thoughts.

"Very well then, you're to pick the Reploid ID'd as C2 up from Ashford and prepare for immediate transerver jump to Abel City tomorrow."

X saluted again, managing to avoid expressing surprise on his face at the name of the Reploid he was escorting. "Roger."

"Dismissed."

X turned and marched out of Sigma's office as the other Reploid's neutral expression turned to a smirk as he looked down at a private message from a 'friend' in Pendragon.

[EXECUTRIX LIATH ARRIVING TOMORROW AT 1100 HOURS PROMPT.]

"Oh they're going to have a field day with this one. I do not envy the poor bastards whom Cornelia'll have to assemble to greet the Emperor's Hand." Sigma chuckled to himself, free of having to keep up his persona when alone.

He then pulled up a data sheet on one of Techno's latest attempts to recreate the original Maverick virus, the one that was found with Zero all those years ago, which was being undertaken physically by the unwitting Doctor Doppler, the foremost Reploid expert in Maverick viruses.

"I wonder... What would occur if I combined it with the other variant...?" He mused. Before shrugging, he needed to test the main variant first, ensured everything worked properly.

And as he glanced at the photo of the unidentified Reploid that had appeared with Zero last night, a grin bloomed on his face.

He had the perfect test subject, almost entirely thanks to Vile being fortunate enough to be informed of what Code R was by that idiot Bartley.

It was just a matter of ensuring everything was in place beforehand, such as the Trojan he ordered Techno to install into her when she arrived at Hunter Base for overhaul, and the transmitter for the new virus, which was fitted with an emergency kill code in the event it spiraled out of control and threatened his own plans.

He also needed a way to ensure that both the transmitter and the test subject would be at the same location, that part was what he was likely to wait several weeks on.

He sighed, Reploid evolution didn't come fast after all.

* * *

X walked into his quarters and pulled out his phone, dialing up C2's number and waiting for her to pick up in order to inform her he was coming.

["Hello?"]

"Hey, it's me, I'm calling you to let you know that I'm being sent by tomorrow to take you to Abel City for an overhaul."

["Oh you will? Uh thanks... Er... I never got your name did I?"] She replied sheepishly.

"My name's X." He stated, only to hear her make some kind of choked noise. "Uh, are you okay?"

["Y... Yeah I'm fine... I'll see you tomorrow."] She replied and then hung up.

X stared at his phone. "Weird..." He mumbled before putting it away.

He shook his head and headed over to his diagnostic berth to recharge. "Better to be ready than not..." He said as he locked in and powered down after setting the wakeup timer.


	6. Stage 6: Enter the Executrix

**AN: Chapter 6 is a go, there are no brakes on this train anymore.**

 **Also yeah, not focusing on the cat chase thing or its aftermath as much, because given how absurd that entire episode was.**

 **Plus, you'd think Ashford would have security cameras or something that Lelouch should've been concerned seeing the mask as well.**

 **I mean for god's sake there's an** _ **automated machine gun turret**_ **in the underground areas, unless you want to believe Mao somehow managed to rig that up without help the more likely explanation is that those are standard throughout the entire settlement for 'defensive purposes' since Suzaku recognized the model which Mao just read some passing army officer's mind to know how to activate it, so why the hell wouldn't there be cameras, especially with Milly being herself and potentially wanting to record her antics for posterity. But oh well, apparently the writers never thought of that.**

 **Also just realized the dates are all screwy (as of the initial writing of this, so take it with a grain of salt because I do this stuff weeks in advance of actually posting it)**

 **Whatever, it's fanfiction, not like not adhering strictly to the calendar in a world already screwed up by time-space distortion is something to nitpick.**

 **I'm just gonna put this out here, transerver tech isn't rated for usage by organic life and is limited to use by the Maverick Hunters and special high value passengers at their discretion due to the immense costs required to keep the network running.**

 **Also don't expect an update as fast as last one, that was almost entirely due to me now knowing how to improve it and thus I went 'eh' why not but am now returning to the roughly weekly schedule popular with a lot of authors.**

 **I have like five chapters in the pipeline at any given time for this in the event that college takes precedence so it's not like I'm _not_ writing.**

 **EDIT: Made some adjustments to the chapter. In hindsight the whole Liath meeting thing at Ashford was a bit _too_ over the top.**

 **Even if the original version was even more absurd.**

* * *

 **August 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **ERROR, LOCATION NOT FOUND.**

Emperor Charles zi Britannia stood overlooking a fast field of clouds, surrounded by ancient and decaying stone structures, far below he could see a great storm brewing over a single point.

" _Even here Area N's disruption of the universe's reason taints the very fabric of existence."_ The Emperor thought, mentally referring to the containment zone in the Britannian homeland that was sealed off by Imperial decree, any who dared cross the boundary vanished, be they Reploid, Mechaniloid, or Human, _never_ to be seen again.

And _not_ due to any action by the military or more covert groups.

He heard footsteps behind him, knowing who they were and why they were here, he let them approach.

"Your majesty, the remains have arrived." A masked individual with the symbol of Geass emblazoned on the back of their collar stated to the Emperor.

"I was actually conversing with Clovis just a few moments before you arrived." Charles stated cryptically, ignoring the other man's confused mumbling. "Has Liath arrived in Area 11?"

"She'll land within a few hours your grace. She reports that she'll begin her visit to that school immediately tomorrow… But why were you and she so insistent on the Twenty-Third in particular?" He inquired, genuinely confused.

"Because that is the day we estimate from which the world will begin to dip towards the point of no return." Charles replied, his face stern. "Continue our preparations without a moment's delay." He ordered.

* * *

 **August 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

To say Lelouch had been stunned when Suzaku had been introduced to the class was… An understatement.

He wasn't the only one who was confused.

"What's an _Eleven_ doing here?" A male student whispered as Suzaku packed up his stuff after class ended.

"He was a suspect in Prince Clovis's murder…" Another student, a girl this time, said.

"But Repliforce knew he was totally innocent. The teacher said the charges were dropped because of that." A second boy stated.

"He was still suspicious enough to arrest though, right?"

"But that was the purists apparently."

"You don't really think he's a terrorist…?" One of the girls next to Kallen asked.

" _Oh the irony…"_ The redhead thought as she mulled the thought of Suzaku being a member of the resistance.

"Of course he isn't, the school board would know something like that." A male student replied, a moment of guilt flashing on Kallen's face, these kids were _afraid_ of Suzaku to a degree.

It was beginning to dawn on her that they would probably be afraid of _her_ too if they knew the truth.

Meanwhile with Nina, Rivalz, and Shirley, the bespectacled girl was resisting the urge to outright flee from Suzaku's presence.

"An Eleven here at school?" Nina whispered as she watched Suzaku.

"He is an Honorary Britannian." Rivalz pointed out.

"I know… But still all the same…"

"Well he doesn't look all that scary to me, why don't we just talk to him, I'm sure he's totally-." Shirley was cut off when Rivalz stopped her from approaching Suzaku.

"Hey…" He said as Shirley looked at him. "The guy just got here, give him some space."

Lelouch stood up and walked past Suzaku, catching his attention before stopping by the door and tugging on his shirt collar, a signal he hadn't used in seven years.

Suzaku's eyes widened, remembering it almost instantly as he grabbed his things and headed out after Lelouch, taking a path up to the roof.

* * *

Suzaku stepped out of the roof exit and walked over to Lelouch, whom was leaning against a railing and looking down at the campus below.

Lelouch turned to look at his friend upon hearing his footsteps. "Seven years since we've used this signal… Long time huh." He said as he adjusted his collar.

"Meeting on the roof like the old days?" Suzaku replied, a small grin on his face.

"Yeah." Lelouch grinned back.

"I'm glad you're alright… I've been worried…" Suzaku said as he leaned against the railing.

"Alive and kicking thanks to you…" Lelouch said before his face hardened. "You almost died… Trying to protect me…"

Suzaku smirked. "I was just returning the favor from seven years ago when you talked that Britannian infantry squad into leaving me alone."

Lelouch looked away briefly, thinking. _"You owe me another one then… Maybe, it honestly depended on if the Purists were depraved enough to try and murder you to make a point even with Repliforce breathing down their necks."_

Suzaku's face fell as he noticed Lelouch's change in mood before he remembered something. "Uh! What about the Reploid! You know! From the capsule!" He asked.

"She's been working as my personal assistant and helping the student council with record-keeping after Milly scared off the student who was previously in charge… But…" Lelouch's looked away sadly as X walked past the building on the pathway below. "She's suffering from a lot of technical issues nobody in Area 11 can fix, so she's being transported to Abel City in Australia for a full-service overhaul, primarily on her power supply." Lelouch said, Suzaku frowning. "What about you, do you know anything about what happened to her?"

"No, the only ones who knew were Clovis's personal bodyguard squad and some of the command officers on the G-1 apparently." Suzaku admitted, looking at his feet as C2 walked up to X down below, Lelouch watching them, the two of them speaking to eachother in hushed tones as something tensed in Lelouch's body, noticing their body language and realizing how tense C2 was as well.

" _Does X know…? About me? No… C2 wouldn't betray me like that, and X is almost_ notoriously _naive from what I've overheard off-duty Maverick hunters chatting about while going gambling with Rivalz..."_ Lelouch thought as he relaxed. "I see…" He finally said in response to Suzaku.

"And your name… Do I still call you Lelouch?" His friend asked.

"My old identity is listed among the dead in Britannian records, I go by Lelouch Lamperouge now." He replied, admittedly some people had initially been suspicious of him at first, but they quickly dismissed any similarities he had with the supposedly dead prince as coincidental.

An odd quirk of human psychology he supposed, which he hoped would apply to Reploids as well.

"Oh…" Suzaku whispered, not really having much else to say in reply to that.

"And you? What happened at your court martial and why did you enroll at the school?" Lelouch asked, he'd figured what happened at the former but the latter genuinely confused him.

Suzaku perked up. "I'm as surprised as you are, what're the odds that we'd end up at the same school? Truth is, Repliforce arranged for me to receive a proper investigation, and then someone else arranged for an investigation into the conduct of the Pureblood faction, that same person said that a Seventeen-year old, even one in the military, should be in school." He stated, Lelouch raising an eyebrow in response.

" _Who indeed…"_ He thought.

* * *

 **August 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Euphie glanced around at the art in Clovis's personal study, Cornelia was out crushing a sizable resistance group in central Japan and would be for some time. "Were all of these painted by Prince Clovis…?" She asked.

"Yes your highness." An attendant replied.

Euphie put her hand onto one of the paintings. "Such gentle colors… Very much akin to my brother…" She said. _"Or at least... What he once was..."_

Another attendant burst into the room. "Sub-Viceroy Euphemia...!" He squeaked, on the verge of hyperventilating.

She looked at him. "Yes, what is the matter?"

"Executrix Liath is requesting landing permission for her arrival at O'Hare field in one hour!" He choked out.

Euphie's eyes widened, with Cornelia nowhere near the settlement, let alone the Palace, it fell to her to greet the Emperor's Hand, as it was not unknown for the Executrix to make sudden and unannounced arrivals to avoid media attention.

"Prepare a detachment of the guard for the arrival ceremony." She ordered, keeping her composure in spite of her being caught off guard by this.

"At once your highness!" He hastily replied before rushing out as Euphie wondered what the Executrix was doing in Area 11.

" _Does father consider Zero_ that _much of a threat to his rule? Or is there another motive…"_ She'd noticed her father had been making increasingly cryptic decisions since the invasion of Japan, confounding both ally and adversary alike.

Regardless, she had her duties to uphold.

And uphold them she would.

* * *

 **August 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Area 11 Regional HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 and X walked into the lobby of the Maverick Hunter regional HQ, like Hunter Base the regional HQs had large lobbies intended to allow humans to visit, either to register complaints or notify the Hunters directly about suspected Maverick activity.

"Just act casual." X advised her as they walked up to the counter where a Reploid secretary was working after noticing how nervous C2 was.

They didn't even look up as they began speaking, the bored infliction in his voice showing how little he actually cared as he tapped away at his keyboard. "You're about thirty minutes late, were you flying rather than using a transerver unit you'd have missed the plane."

X sighed. "Traffic was pretty bad due to a large military convoy heading to O'hare field taking priority." He admitted.

The secretary eyed C2 while she looked about the lobby, not entirely believing X. "Riiiiight, head to transerver room three, you know where to go X, so make sure she doesn't get lost, Vile has been pretty testy lately since he was put on reserve duty after an incident yesterday." The secretary stated as they continued their log work.

"I'm not even gonna ask what he did…" X sighed and gestured for C2 to follow him, the Reploid staying quiet on the off chance they knew what she sounded like.

The two of them made their way through the halls, passing other Maverick Hunters on the way, C2 getting more than a few glances, some of them, a mix of both gender archetypes at that, more _interested_ than others, causing her to squirm a bit.

" _Is this what it's like to be Shirley when Milly is being… Herself…?"_ The Reploid thought nervously as X glanced worriedly at her as they walked up to the transerver room door and waited before the guard let them through.

The two stepped onto a transerver pad. "Alright, it's gonna feel really weird the first time… And I just realized that could be taken really really wrong…" X said and sighed as C2 glared at him.

"Just beam us through before genius here says anything else." She mumbled as energy crackled along the pad and the containment field rods that had emerged from the floor at four points around it, and then the two of them vanished.

* * *

 **August 22, 1962 AD/2017 ATB.**

 **Hunter Base, Abel City, State of Western Australia, Republic of Australia.**

C2 felt nothing but utter vertigo and collapsed onto her hands and knees with a clank while her eyes spun thanks to a total failure in her equilibrium management software.

X winced and hissed through his teeth before kneeling down next to her and gently taking her arm. "Right… Probably should've checked to see if your equilibrium control systems were properly shielded beforehand… It happens to some the first time due to manufacturing defects."

"If I was human I would probably have vomited already…" She groaned as X helped her up while her control programs rebooted.

"Alright, let's get you down to the maintenance level. So the techs can work on you." X stated to her as they walked out of the transerver room.

"Alright…" She said pensively as they passed a pair of hunters in patrol type armor before X stopped her in a security blind spot he and Zero had often went to to shoot the breeze and vent their frustrations in private. "Listen, you'll be fine, Techno, Douglas and Lifesaver lead are three of the best at their jobs." He assured her.

C2 nodded at him. "Alright… I'll trust you, but if I so much as find a hint of any virus I'll beat you until you don't know where your own right foot is even though it's in your mouth." She warned, hopefully at least half jokingly.

X rolled his eyes. "It's not like any of them are Mavericks." He stated as they walked into an elevator and X pressed the button for level that contained their destination.

C2 didn't pose the obvious question, choosing to only think about it after realizing that herself, Lelouch, and Kallen at Ashford raised _serious_ concerns about the vetting abilities of the Maverick Hunters in her own mind.

" _You trust your comrades and security systems so implicitly… Any number of them could secretly be secretly working against you… And you'd never even suspect them."_

* * *

 **August 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **O'Hare field, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Euphie frowned as she and several attending officials watched the C-130s and C-133s land one by one. It appeared that not only was the Executrix present,but she'd brought along two full Royal Panzer Mechanized Infantry companies of the 501st Imperial Guard's Mechanized Divison.

Or as they were more infamously known. _'Liath's Fist'_ …

" _Coming here herself is one thing, but bringing two full mechanized companies..."_ Euphie thought as she watched the planes land one by one.

The lead plane, a slate grey VC-135 bearing the Executrix's personal mark, rolled up to the tarmac and lowered its boarding ramp after coming to a stop.

The assembled military personnel stood up straighter as the cloaked and masked form of Executrix Liath marched down the boarding stairs, her retinue of soldiers following her as she walked over, the buttons of her grey ceremonial uniform glinting in the light.

Euphie supposed that in a way Liath was Britannia's Zero, as she and the administration officials knelt in her presence as they would for the Emperor himself, the Royal Guard saluting. Previously the office of Executor or Executrix had always been held by the Knight of One, however starting with the 98th Emperor that had changed, as her father had justified separating the titles of Knight of One and Executrix to simplify the workloads of both offices and to improve the security of the Empire.

Both factions in congress had grumbled but raised no objections otherwise as these ranks and titles fell under the sole discretion of the Sovereign.

But it wasn't until Liath appeared after lady Marianne's death that the office had been filled, leading to some speculation by conspiracy theorists that Liath was somehow the Empress.

She'd heard Cornelia describe Liath's voice but nothing could have prepared her for the powerful dramatic contralto tone when the woman spoke through her mask's voice changer.

 **="Rise."=** Liath ordered, silvery kite-shield shaped facemask gleaming in the light, it now dawned on Euphie as she and the others stood that the Executrix's helmet noticeably resembled the head of the Lancelot, albeit noticeably modified, and boasting a black slit visor rather than two eyeholes.

"Your eminence, my apologizes for the slight delay, we hadn't anticipated you bringing a detachment of your personal guard Division." Euphie said earnestly as she stood.

The Executrix waved her off, the 'Iron Witch of Britannia' marching forwards as a squad of her personal guards, their own low glare black visors glinting lightly, followed her, Colt Battle Rifles at ready. = **"Where is the Viceroy?"=** She queried as she glanced around.

Euphie walked alongside her. "Viceroy Cornelia is off dealing with a group of terrorists known as the 'Blood of the Samurai', whom are believed to be closely associated with the JLF as an affiliate group led by former soldiers." She reported, maintaining her composure.

 **="I see, typical of the 'Goddess of Victory' to go hunting rather than sort out problems under her own nose. How much have you done regarding the corruption and drug crime? Because total economic productivity is** _ **seven**_ **percent below expected levels because of Refrain trafficking alone,** _ **fifteen**_ **percent if you account for other factors. Both the Emperor and I could care less about the Sakuradite if we're draining the treasury just to get it mined, it would be _cheaper_ to dig up the Rockies, Andes and Cascades instead and tap the veins in the homeland and core areas in the Americas at this rate."=**

Euphie's jaw dropped in shock. Even Colonel, who was leading the current set of Repliforce raids against illicit smuggling operations, had no idea about the true extent of the damage all of this was doing. "By Darwin... I knew it was a dent, but I don't think even Repliforce realized it was that bad."

 **="That is because the bureaucrats you have left after Repliforce fired or arrested many of them are the overworked saps who kept trying to keep Area 11's government afloat when Clovis was in charge, the Area's financial paperwork is** _ **seven**_ **months behind and there are serious budgetary errors and questionable allowances, not to mention the shortfalls in local military readiness. I intend to address that."=** The Executrix rumbled dangerously as she and Euphie headed towards a transport that would take them to the palace

 **="And while we're at it, do remind the Viceroy that Zero is her concern, not mine, unless he is somehow stupid enough to enter a direct confrontation with my troops I shall simply observe her efforts. I'm simply ensuring a site in that small island chain just South of Tokyo is ready in anticipation of further inspection by the Second Prince in the coming months, my troops likewise are to secure it in the event that any foreign forces attempt to set up shop here but until them I'm awaiting the availability of a pair of landing ship tanks and a mobile harbor."=** She added.

Euphie frowned. _"So you're not here because of Zero... But why would a single island interest father enough to send you and two full companies of your troops..."_ She thought. "Understood your eminence..." Euphie acknowledged.

There was a reason Liath was called the 'Iron Witch of Britannia'… And one of the nation's finest strategists and military leaders alongside such individuals as Cornelia, Schneizel, Colonel, General, and the fifth Prince, Maximilian va Britannia.

But the will of Executrix Liath was the will of the Emperor after all, and none would dare question her.

You'd have to have a death wish or be supremely arrogant or confident to oppose her.

Or any combination of those traits really.

The Executrix turned to Euphie upon remembering something. **="Before I forget, can you tell me where Private Kururugi would be right now?"=** She asked the Sub-Viceory, who blinked in response.

"Why he'd be at Ashford Academy or at the ASEEC detachment across the street from it..." Euphie informed her, wondering why she'd wish to know where Suzaku was.

The Executrix walked away without another word.

* * *

 **Hunter Base, Abel City, Republic of Australia.**

C2 laid down on a service table, having removed her Ashford uniform and putting her legs and arms back on with assistance, leaving her bare bodyglove and eternal limb plating as her only coverings as she glanced over at Lifesaver Lead, the Reploid chief medic sighing as he gave her a glare.

"Relax, I'm just going to overhaul any of your mechanical components with equivalent or better systems as was ordered." The Reploid 'Doctor' replied as he walked over to C2 and plugged something into her neck.

"What's that for…" She inquired pensively.

"A power supply and connection feed for your processor, so Techno can do his work while I do mine, you'll be isolated from your body and audio-visual-olfactory net, it'll be like a dream, or so I've been told." Lifesaver explained as he plugged another set of wires into the panel on her neck. "Alright, we're going to shut you off now, it'll be like an instant to you when you wake back up."

C2 nodded nervously as he flicked a switch on her 'ear' unit and her eyes dimmed, body falling limp.

"Alright Techno, do your thing and we'll do ours." He mumbled as he got to work opening her armor, removing her limbs one by one to do individual inspections. "Douglas better have those parts ready…" Lifesaver grumbled as he opened up one of the cooling vents on her left leg to check for damage caused by the emergency vent as two more of his fellow Lifesaver units walked in to begin their own work.

* * *

Inside the programming control booth, Techno grinned.

" _Heh, I'll do my thing alright… For Commander Sigma's new world."_ The Reploid programming master, and Maverick sleeper agent, thought as he got to work, metal fingers tapping away on a keyboard as he began inserting a trojan type Maverick Virus into C2's programming, idly opening her systems files in a maximized window to hide his illicit activities.

Even a full scan of her systems by anything less than X's anti-virus setup or the one on Hunter Base's mother computer would reveal nothing.

Techno's grin evolved into a smirk as he looked through the various damaged files and began repairing them, as much for his own pride as to keep up appearances. "Jeez, what morons did they have working on her before that kid at Ashford picked her up?" He snickered as he looked through the shoddy reprogramming work, his smirk widening as he noticed her primary anti-virus setup was disabled, which was good because even at a glance he could tell it was identical to X's and would've rendered her _invulnerable_ to the virus otherwise. "Absolute idiots the lot of them." He mumbled.

Nobody within earshot would know that the second phrase was referring to multiple groups.

* * *

 **August 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

The door to the dining room hissed open, revealing Nunnally and Sayoko standing there. "Hi Lelouch! I've returned home!" Nunnally chirped as Sayoko wheeled her inside.

"Welcome back, I've got a special present for you today." Lelouch said as he stood up, a grin on his face.

Nunnally cocked her head. "Really? What could it be? Did C2 come back early?" She asked as Lelouch put his index finger up to his lips to tell Sayoko to keep quiet before gesturing for Suzaku to enter.

Suzaku glanced over at Nunnally, feeling his throat tighten as he realized how long it'd been since they'd last been around eachother, hoping the girl would recognize his voice now.

He glanced over at Lelouch who nodded at him, giving him the go-ahead to reveal his presence to Nunnally.

Suzaku knelt down next to her wheelchair, and gently took Nunnally's hand, the girl gasping in confusion and then realization, gently rubbing Suzaku's hand to be sure it was him.

"This hand... Thank heaven... I knew it... I'd just knew you'd be alright." Nunnally cried as she nuzzled Suzaku's hands close to her face, tears of joy rolling down her cheeks.

Suzaku smiled. "It's been a long time Nunnally..."

* * *

 **Hunter Base, Abel City, Republic of Australia.**

Douglas walked into the server room containing the base's mother computer after receiving a message from Dr. Cain looked over C2's schematics, the security guard on duty having been told that a false alert had been filed due to faulty links to the network and that Douglas was to check the hardware for issues while Techno was undergoing his nightly diagnostics. "Not sure why you're having me do this doc... But if you feel that strongly about it all, I'll remove any trace of the information that you don't want us to know about...

He pulled up the silenced alert that showed C2's armored schematics and thus had matched her to the Maverick associated with Zero and frowned.

"I'm sure you have a good reason for this... But, if you're covering something like this up then you probably do..." The chief technician and mechanic of the Maverick Hunters whispered as he hit delete and erased all logs of C2's alter ego from the system barring the data collected from observation of her in the field and the resulting postulation.

Also inadvertently deleting the logs of the Maverick Virus intrusion that had been detected in the local network used to repair her software.

* * *

 **August 23, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"So what's the deal? Something happen to you yesterday or what? You didn't even show up for the student council meeting." Rivalz asked as he and Lelouch chatted idly outside their current classroom.

"You know I kinda tanked that history exam." Lelouch claimed as he spotted Suzaku out of the corner of his eye, remembering their conversation from the previous night.

And how Suzaku wished to not be associated with him during classes to avoid getting him or Nunnally discovered by the government.

"Like I'd buy that, with the way you study…" Rivalz cut himself off as Suzaku walked into the classroom behind Lelouch, the other boy noticing the sudden silence around him.

" _It's been a day, wonder how many people will get emboldened now that Suzaku is somewhat of a known quantity…"_ He thought cynically as he glanced over his shoulder as quiet murmurs rose up.

If only he knew, for at that very moment Suzaku's gym locker was being vandalized by members of the so-called 'Ashford Student Body Self-Defense Force', a group of Britannian students that routinely harassed any numbers who might hope to join the students on campus.

* * *

 **August 23, 2017 ATB.**

 **ASEEC Garage, Tokyo Settlement University Campus, Toky Settlement, Area 11.**

Lloyd hummed away idly as he looked through his various concepts.

"Hmm… Integrated and attachable float units for Knightmares… Doubtful anyone outside airborne, local air defense, assault landing, and special forces units will find much use for them, too slow and energy intensive for long term combat operations or mass use for aerial combat outside point defense according to the simulations, barring us getting tech from Australia of course. And even then, just too slow because of simple aerodynamics, unless one were to create a sheath out of Blaze Luminous to reduce air friction. Oh well, maybe the transformable units will have better luck when we solve the wear and tear issues and the payload problem…" He mused as he looked through another concept of his.

"Beh, Energy Wings, did I seriously think we could solve the constant power drain issue without a reactor of some type? Moreover… What's the point of them? Unless it does something specific there's not really a point besides being a fancy looking float system… Unless we go back to that theory of using Blaze Luminous to create an aerodynamic cone to increase speeds… But then again, it would be unable to do so for long periods of time without a reactor. Which goes back into the power source dilemma, current high-end energy fillers lack the longevity and the typical solar reactors we can use don't have the raw output rate to keep up with the drain either." Lloyd ranted as Cecile watched from nearby.

"He's at it again…" She sighed as a pair of soldiers bearing white uniforms with blue trim marched into the building, catching Lloyd's eye.

"Ah, so it appears that my prediction was correct." He purred as he spun in his chair to the confusion of Cecile and the other ASEEC staff, the soldiers remained unperturbed as they glanced at eachother before looking at Lloyd again. "Now… What does Executrix Liath wish for the special corps to do?" He asked as Cecile dropped her clipboard in shock.

* * *

 **August, 23, 2017 ATB.**

 **Student Council Clubhouse/Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Campus, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Nina tapped away at a keyboard as she worked on her latest set of calculations and equations based on not only her grandfather's old theories but also those of several of his colleagues in the field of physics, well… Colleagues before he'd switched over to an engineering degree anyways.

She heard the door slide open with a hiss. "Nina?" Nunnally asked as her wheelchair rolled in, causing Nina to jump slightly.

"I'm sorry… Am I too loud?" She mumbled apologetically.

"Not at all." Nunnally replied. "Why are you here…? Isn't one of your classes going on right now?" The younger girl asked as her wheelchair rolled over to the desk. "Is something wrong?"

Nina turned away and wrapped her arms around her chest. "Well… I don't know… It's a little scary…"

"Scary…?" Nunnally seemed confused by that, she'd known Nina was shy but not this timid.

"We have a transfer student in our class now… It's that boy who they accused of murdering Prince Clovis… He's an Eleven…" Nina whispered, Nunnally noticing she was rather upset via her tone.

" _Milly said Nina is afraid of Japanese people… But she'd never say why whenever I asked her about it… Did some Japanese people hurt Nina…? But why… Nina never did anything wrong…"_

* * *

Outside the clubhouse, a Pizza Hut delivery boy walked up to the door which Arthur, the stray cat Euphie and Suzaku had encountered two days ago, was sat outside of.

As he moved to ring the doorbell N.N. opened the door, having anticipated him.

"Uh, thanks again for all the repeat business, although the name on the account we debit has a guy's name on it if that's alright…"

N.N. glanced down at the cat and let it through after briefly contemplating stopping it.

" _You know… I just want to see what happens, if the world burns, so be it."_ She thought as she accepted the Pizza and headed back inside.

* * *

Inside his room, Lelouch was busy storing his Zero costume inside a suitcase for easy transport, and to keep it out of sight from anyone snooping around.

N.N. walked into the room, raising an eyebrow as she walked in, the cat following right after her. "Huh, so you're actually hiding the evidence." The blond noted.

"You act like I'm an amateur." He replied dryly as he turned the mask to storage mode and adjusted something in preparation to stow it.

"One lucky break and an incompetent enemy does not a skilled individual make." She replied in turn, enjoying the mild look of irritation on his face as she opened the box.

There was a knock at the door, Lelouch quickly finishing up with hiding the mask as the door slid open, revealing Nunnally waiting.

"Lelouch! The tea's ready if you are!" She paused briefly to sniff the air. "That smell, you ordered Pizza again didn't you! It's because you miss C2 isn't it!"

Lelouch smiled jovially. "You're right. I'm racking up rewards points to get us better deals for when she gets back. I'll be right down okay?"

"Lelouch, maybe you should cut down on the Pizza, you don't want a big, blubbery, belly. You can't just burn it all at once like C2 can, plus she doesn't gain weight!" Nunnally teased, unaware it had been both C2 _and_ N.N. eating most of it, although N.N. couldn't fathom why a Reploid would have tastebuds… Or whatever their equivalent was.

"Just don't touch or rub it okay?" He replied.

" _I swear, there's some weird incestuous undertones here.._ _."_ N.N. thought as the conversation started going in a direction that she was not comfortable imagining.

"Ooh scary!" Nunnally giggled as Lelouch walked out of the room with her in tow.

" _T_ _hat was_ not _normal."_ N.N. thought, shivering a bit at the mental image they'd just given her.

Meanwhile Arthur, being a cat, had gotten into Lelouch's suitcase, which he hadn't zipped up prior to leaving.

One muffled thump and a high-pitched cat noise later, N.N. looked behind her, seeing nothing but the suitcase on the floor, unaware that Arthur had already left.

She poked her head out into the hall and watched the rear half of the Zero mask vanish into the room Lelouch and Nunnally were in.

" _Oh… This could be bad… Very, very, bad."_ She thought. _"Alternatively, this could also be very amusing."_

Her concern was vindicated when a high-pitched, almost girlish, gasp emitted from the dining room. Followed by Lelouch shouting at the cat.

Shrugging, she walked over to the window and waited, watching him chase it outside.

"By my estimates he'll… Eh you worry too much it'll be fine." N.N. whispered boredly to nobody as she watched, nomming down on a slice of pizza. "Mwhell… Isht'sh shomone elshe's bhallphark nhow." She mumbled with a full mouth.

* * *

Lelouch chased Arthur across the campus. "If I had those terrorists with me we could've encircled it… Kallen? No, she's already suspicious of me as it is. Of course this happens when C2 isn't here, she'd have gotten it rounded up within seconds." He whispered as he followed the cat, who'd jumped onto a roof, before ending up stumbling into a bush.

Grumbling, Lelouch extricated himself from the shrubbery and continued the pursuit.

" _I need to stop this damn cat before a Reploid sees it! If that happens I'm_ finished _!"_ Lelouch thought, as he knew that it only worked on organic life, rather than the pure electronics of machines.

Something he'd figured out the hard way when C2 'gently' slugged him in the gut after he tried to order her to go into a plaza and do jumping jacks until he told her to stop as a test, it had been partially a joke actually since he'd figured that it wouldn't work since he got his Geass.

She'd forgiven him but had been pissed regardless.

Arthur ran into one of the school buildings through an open door, stopping in front of a pair of female students to scratch at an itch.

The two of them stood there, confused as they looked upon the mask of the infamous terrorist 'Zero'…

Being worn by a scruffy stray cat.

Lelouch naturally could not allow them to remember what they had just witnessed, quickly Geassing them to forget they had seen the mask.

If it doubled back around he was screwed if they saw it again.

Following the cat, his darkest fears were realized as the PA chimed. ["This is Milly Ashford, your student council president… CAT HUNT EVERYBODY!"] She announced, Lelouch's eyes widening.

" _NUNNALLY! SHE MUST HAVE TOLD THE OTHERS! CRAP CRAP CRAP!"_ He realized in utter horror, his eyes widening in fear.

They probably presumed it to be something innocently scandalous but the moment they saw the mask…

He might have to Geass the _entire school_ at this rate, and that was impossible because he'd already Geassed Kallen, one of the teachers, those two girls just now, and a handful of others during his attempts to test his power.

["There's a cat loose on the campus that needs to be rounded up! Put everything on hold people! Participating clubs will get budget priority."]

" _Oh dear god no! No! NO!"_ He had to stop the cat _now_. _"OF ALL THE TIMES TO NOT HAVE A PISTOL! I COULD'VE JUST SHOT IT AND BEEN DONE WITH IT!"_

["And whoever _catches_ our feline friend will get an _extra special prize_!"] Milly continued, as if hinting about something incredibly inane and stupid.

" _I don't like where this is going Milly!"_

["A big 'ol _kiss_ from _one_ of the members of the council!"]

Lelouch's mind could only go into full nope mode as he picked up the pace.

" _WHY DO I KEEP SKIPPING PE!?"_ He thought in an utter panic as he continued trying to run Arthur down while Milly laughed maniacally over the PA system.

He could already hear the trampling of at least seventy percent of the school rushing about looking for Arthur.

["And when you _do_ catch that cat, bring _what it's carrying_ to me! To me! **TO ME!** "] Milly cackled before breaking off into a coughing fit.

" _This is how I die, not because I lost a critical battle and got cut down by an enemy but because of_ Milly _and_ _ **A FUCKING CAT!**_ _"_ Lelouch raged internally as pushed his unathletic, thin, frame to its limits. "Damnit Milly stay _out_ of this!" He growled.

He was so worked up he didn't notice Nunnally's additions to the broadcast, nor the roaring chorus of Meows that followed.

And then he slipped and lost sight of the cat.

" **GOD DAMNIT!** " He bellowed furiously.

* * *

Across the Street, Lloyd sipped on his coffee as he and Cecile watched.

"They're so… Laid back despite the fact they're supposed to be in mourning…" Cecile said, bemused by the entire situation.

"Well you can only mourn for so long… And they are young." Llyod replied as he looked at his watch. "I give it another five minutes or so before the proverbial fan is hit."

"I sincerely doubt the Executrix would do what you think she would, it's a waste of military resources."

Lloyd shrugged.

* * *

Back on Campus, Lelouch almost ran into Suzaku, his friend looking at him curiously as he panted.

"Suzaku!"

"Lelouch? You're looking for the cat too?" He asked, before a meow broke from the top of the stairwell.

"Up there!" Suzaku whispered before taking off.

" _THIS IS LITERALLY THE WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD'VE HAPPENED, SUZAKU'S IN THE MILITARY, HE'LL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO ARREST ME!"_ Lelouch thought in utter horror as he followed his friend up the stairs of the belltower. "Suzaku wait! Don't go up there!" He pleaded.

"But the student council president said to catch it!" Suzaku replied.

"Don't worry about it! I'll get the cat!" Lelouch stuttered as he began to fall behind Suzaku even further.

"I was _always_ more agile than you! Remember when that little bird got loose?" Suzaku responded as he cornered around the latest flight of stairs.

"Quit talking ancient history!" Lelouch shouted indignantly.

"It was _only_ seven years ago!"

"Oh for Pete's sake!" Lelouch gasped as he fell a full flight behind Suzaku, his prior exhaustion not helping his unathletic physique, compared to Suzaku's own body which had been honed by military training and regular exercise. "Crazy bastard always _was_ an exercise nut…" Lelouch wheezed as he slowly climbed up the stairs, trying to catch his breath and avoid passing out from overexertion.

* * *

Executrix Liath tapped away at her left arm console as she watched the pandemonium down at Ashford as the students crowded around one of the buildings, so far none of them had noticed the T-4 VTOL circling over the school at mid altitude.

Ah, such fond days and memories. The innocence of youth.

She pursed her lips in amusement as she held her helmet in her hands.

Oh well, time for them to wake up to a dose of reality.

She raised an eyebrow upon spotting one of the two students clambering on the roof begin to fall, only for the other to suddenly save him.

"Well, this part went mostly according to the script. Although I don't see the mask anywhere." She mused, figuring it must've gotten stuck in the belltower rather than falling onto the roof.

She put her own helmet on, making sure her hair would be fully contained by it. = **"It seems it's high time a new act was played out."=** Liath said as her helmet's voice changer activated before clicking over to the Frame to transport channel. = **"Pilot, give release control to me and hold here until I give the order to descend."=**

["Yes your eminence!"] The T-4 KMF aerial assault transport VTOL's pilot acknowledged as the craft continued to hover in place.

She smirked as she watched the crowd cluster around the belltower as she waited for the right moment to release the clamps. But thought better of it.

 **="Pilot, bring us back to the palace, tell APC 2-3 to move in and request Kururugi's presence back at base."=** She ordered.

["By your command."] They replied as the VTOL turned and headed back to the Viceroy's palace, the Lancelot Initiate still locked into its undersid.

* * *

Lelouch and Suzaku were about to receive their 'reward' from Nunnally, before everyone stopped as they heard the faint roar of engines and landspinnrs.

And then numerous students shrieked as an APC rolled up and swerved to a halt, Lelouch tensing up as he recognized the markings

"An APC…?" Somone whispered.

"Looks like an M114 model." One of the science club members gasped.

"Hang on… Those markings… Oh my Darwin…" Another student breathed.

Suzaku furrowed his brow as everyone tensed up when the rear ramp dropped, a sextet of Soldiers wearing white and blue Imperial Guard battle armor marching out of the vehicle and over to Suzaku, Lelouch breaking out into a cold sweat alongside Kallen.

 _"The 501st Guards Division... Among the most elite of the Empire's forces..."_ Lelouch observed warily.

 _"Liath's Fist..."_ Kallen thought, trembling as the lead Soldier, a Sergeant, approached Suzaku.

"Lieutenant Kururugi, your presence is requested at the Viceroy's Palace." The man stated as Suzaku blinked in confusion before his eyes widened in realization.

"Lieutenant... But I'm only a private..." He breathed.

"Not anymore sir, Executrix Liath's orders, now come with us."

Suzaku glanced back at the others, Milly shrugging at him. "I guess if the Executrix demands my presence..." He replied.

One of the 501st Soldiers gestured for him to follow them, Suzaku obeying and walking over to board the APC, shooting a wave back at Lelouch and Nunnally as the ramp closed between them.

He missed the pensive look on Lelouch's face as the physical barrier closed between the two and the APC rumbled off.

* * *

 **August 23, 1962 AD/2017 ATB.**

 **Hunter Base, Abel City, Republic of Australia.**

The world lit up before C2 as diagnostic readouts appeared in her vision, the Reploid mumbling something as she got her bearings.

"Well, I've replaced your reactor and cooling systems with a more efficient unit." Lifesaver said as C2 sat up and rubbed her head.

"And my systems…?" She asked as she tested her arms and legs.

"Techno is one of the best at what he does, you'll be fine." Lifesaver said dismissively.

The door opened and X walked in. "C2?" He asked as he put his hands on his hips.

"Yeah? What now… We going back to Ja… Area 11…?" She asked X as she hopped off the table and grabbed her Ashford uniform, having grown attached to wearing it despite not really needing clothing.

"You need to undergo a brief observation period to ensure there's no defects, even though Douglas is our top technician we can't take the risk of a meltdown, shouldn't be but another day or two." The Chief medic replied without even looking away from his terminal.

C2 sighed as she and X headed into the hallway, before a flood of Maverick Hunters rushed by them, X stopping a Wasp/Hornet themed one. "Hey Blast Hornet! What's going on?" He questioned.

"The Emperor of Britannia is about to make a public broadcast! We're gonna go watch it in break room seven!" Blast Hornet replied replied before running after the others. "Hey guys! Wait up!"

X and C2 looked at eachother. _"The Emperor…?"_ They mouthed at the same time. In recent years it was exceptionally rare for Charles zi Britannia to address his own nation in such a formal manner, let alone at all, and when he _did_ do so it garnered a _lot_ of attention.

Which meant that Prince Clovis's state funeral was today.

They filed into the break room and squeezed in to get a good view of the TV screen among the three dozen hunters filling the room, C2 slapping at X's hand after it inadvertently brushed against her rear due to forced proximity with both Reploids flushing in embarrassment.

X glanced over next to them to see a group of cadets from the 28th Training Corps under Commander Gwain chatter away as they tried to get a view of the screen.

"Agni get your hand off of me!" A light blue haired female Reploid shouted at a reddish haired male one.

"You get your hand off of me!" He retorted as their Green haired squad leader, a senior cadet named Marlow if he remembered correctly from when he accompanied them during a training op, sighed and then tensed up after a white haired Reploid with a black visor tapped her shoulder and pointed at X, whom raised an eyebrow as a pink haired Reploid with an odd headpiece noticed as well and shrunk down nervously.

X coughed into his fist, settling the cadets down as the crowd spread out after Signas marched in and began shouting for order and telling the taller Reploids to move to the back.

After a while a live feed of Clovis's state funeral was displayed as the national anthem of the Holy Britannian Empire played over the speakers.

C2 watched the cameras pan over the present ranking members of the Imperial Family and court on the stage, sitting under an immense portrait of the recently deceased prince, Cornelia noticeably absent due to taking up her post in Area 11, as was Executrix Liath surprisingly.

["And now, his Imperial Majesty. The Ninety-Eighth Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire will address the Realm."] The announcer declared as the imposing form of Charles zi Britannia marched up to the lectern and grasped both sides of it firmly, his eyes steeled as he prepared to make his speech.

["All men. Are _not_ created equal!"] He stated firmly as he began. ["Some are born swifter of foot. Some are born with greater beauty. Some are born into poverty. Others are born sick and feeble. And yet more are born foolish and dim. Both in birth and upbringing, in sheer scope of ability every human being is _inherently different_! Yes! That is why people discriminate against one another! Which is why there is struggle, competition and the unfaltering march of _progress_! The differences between Man and Reploid, and between Man to Man and Reploid to Reploid are _proof_ of this!"] He preached without even the slightest hesitation.

["Inequality is _not_ wrong! Should Reploids be as _feeble_ in strength as our human forms? Should humans be as _mindless_ and _dull_ as Mechaniloids? No! For _equality_ , which demands such **detriments** , is! What of the EU, which made equality a right? Rabble politics that amounts to little more than a popularity contest and an eternal political _grudge match_ between the various nation-states that make up that **excuse** for a superpower! The Chinese Federation with its long, vaunted history and equal opportunity bureaucratic system? A pathetic nation of corrupt, lazy and **incompetent** dullards who leech of the creativity of their _betters_ and drive their citizens into the _dirt_! Or what of the Soviets and their tenets of communism, which preaches equality of wealth, class, and property as distributed by the government? Seemingly **endless** ration lines just to acquire one's weekly groceries and a life of perpetual fear that one's envious neighbors may turn them in to the KGB on false charges at the _merest_ **slight**!"] Charles uttered passionately.

["But not our beloved Britannia, a land of _plenty_ for **all** who are willing to _seize_ what they desire! We _fight_ , we _compete_ , evolution is _continuous_! Britannia _alone_ moves forward! Advancing steadily into the future! Even the death of my son Prince Clovis demonstrates Britannia's unswerving commitment to **progress**! To the advancement of _both_ human and Reploid-kind into **one unified master race _above all others_**!"] The Emperor declared. ["We _will_ fight on! We shall struggle, compete, _plunder_ , and _**dominate**_! And in the end, the future shall be _ours_!"] He thrust his right fist into the air. [" **ALL! HAIL! BRITANNIA!** "] He bellowed at the top of his lungs.

[" **ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!** "] The crowd chanted proudly as C2's eyes widened.

" _I see Lelouch… This is what you fight against… This is your enemy… An enemy which is larger and more ingrained in power than even the Emperor himself…"_

"What a load of bunk… Master race my thorax..." Blast Hornet muttered.

"Hey, why do you think he didn't say anything about Australia…?" Another Hunter, Volt Kraken, asked.

"Because the Republic whooped Britannia's ass the last time they tried to invade." Magna Centipede said as he crossed both of his pairs of arms.

"Yeah I guess so…" Volt Kraken mumbled.

"Jeez, Britannians are so over the top about it aren't they..." One of the cadets whispered to another.

X and C2 simply exchanged another look as the others continued chattering.

"Hey X! You hear about that unauthorized transerver activity?" Someone next to X said, a rather short and rotund yellow Reploid.

X looked at him. "No, not really Double." He replied as Double glanced over at C2.

"Say, what's a civvie doing in here?" He whispered, changing the subject suddenly.

"She was just in for repairs." X replied as C2 glanced back at Double pensively, finding something off about him.

"Why here?" Double asked, crossing his arms

"Her solar core and systems are older architecture, Douglas is pretty much the only one anyone has on hand that could've replaced them and only Techno and Middy really understand the older coding types." X explained, Double shrugging and nodding.

"Yeah I guess so… She one of those old fossils they dug up like you? It'd make sense about the parts and programming architecture then." He asked, causing the chatter to hush down as everyone glanced nervously over at C2, who was desperately avoiding the temptation of just activating her battle armor and blowing Double's head off with a charge shot.

She doubted she'd last two and a half seconds with no less than eight high end Maverick Hunters packed into the room.

"Double… Maybe you should leave…" X whispered to him after leaning down to his 'ear'.

"Huh… Oh… Oooooooohhh… Yeah… I'll just… Go… Because I don't wanna die…" He mumbled as he scooted away a little before bolting out of the room.

X walked over to C2, who was glowering, her hands clenched into fists.

"Hey calm down… Double does this all the time… He called some members of 14th unit 'clowns' because of their haphazard color schemes and designs once." He said, trying to lighten her mood, being rewarded with her hands relaxing as she tilted her head back to look at him, eyes glowing dangerously.

"If he calls me a fossil again I will _**end**_ him." She rumbled angrily.

"Duly noted."

A Reploid tapped X's shoulder. "Sir...?"

X glanced over at him. "Uh... Yes?"

"Dr. Cain wishes to see you and the Reploid you brought from Area 11." The Navigator-type Reploid informed him.

X raised an eyebrow and gestured for C2 to follow him.

* * *

In the hallway outside, Double watched X and C2 leave with the navigator Reploid.

Techno walked up to him, Double glancing over at his fellow sleeper agent. "Did you insert the Trojan?" He asked in a low whisper.

Techno waved him off. "Yeah, I did, even my brother wouldn't be able to detect it without the right software."

"I'll inform Lord Sigma of our success, keep a low profile until he calls upon you again." Double replied as he headed off to perform his duties, merging effortlessly into the crowd of Reploids streaming out of the break room, bumping into one of the cadets from the 28th purposefully.

"Right... Right... Don't get your transformation mechanism in a knot." Techno snarked as he walked away, heading back to his work at the central programming center.

* * *

 **August 23, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceory's Palace Knightmare Arena, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Suzaku exhaled as he boarded the Lancelot, the challenge was simple enough, face one of the most feared Knightmare pilots in the world in a one on one melee duel.

" _One who'd been trained by Marianne the Flash no less…"_ He thought morbidly, realizing this person may have a personal grudge against him over Lelouch and Nunnally. Yet her body language and tone when they'd spoken briefly indicated that she was very personally interested in him.

 _"So, you're the one who tamed the Lancelot, I look forward to seeing how you develop."_ He remembered her saying.

"Yggdrasil Drive active… ME boost on standby." He reported as he exhaled again.

["Roger… Lancelot, you're clear to move out."] Cecile replied hesitantly.

The Z-01 slowly rolled out onto the arena floor, where the Initiate was waiting for him.

[ **="Alright boy, show me why the Second Prince saw fit to allow Asplund to assign that unit to you."=** ] Liath demanded as she drew her MVS units and lunged suddenly at him, closing the distance faster than he could blink.

It was only a split-second reflexive activation of the Blaze Luminous that saved him, even on training mode those blades would've done serious damage to the Lancelot.

He frowned and fired a slash harken to force her back, Liath parrying the anchor away with nary a second thought. [ **="Is that the best you can offer? I thought higher of you boya."=** ] The Executrix taunted, using pronunciation of the Japanese romaji version of boy to rile him up.

And it worked.

Incensed, Suzaku leapt towards her, applying his trademark 'Kuru-kick' as an attack technique for the Lancelot yet again.

Liath used her Knightmare's landspinners to perform a crude 'slide dash' under the attack and spun around, blocking his harkens with her own Blaze Luminous, although a weaker version than that on the Z-01.

Suzaku barely blocked her blades in turn before leaping into the air and backflipping away as the Executrix fired her harkens at him.

He grimaced as he deflected the attack with the Blaze Luminous, only to find her upon him once again.

[ **="That's the spirit!"=** ] The Executrix appraised as they clashed blades. [ **="But you're too predictable! Change your moveset up, vary your tactics! You can't defeat Zero if you use the Lancelot like you would a Sutherland as someone like him will simply analyze every move you make and read you like a book in future battles! Use its mobility to your advantage, keep the enemy just beyond arm's length and close for the killing blow when you see an opening! Use Lancelot as a true** _ **extension**_ **of yourself rather than just a tool you act through, be unpredictable! This is the _true_ essence of Knightmare Combat!"=**]

Suzaku grunted and kicked her away, skidding along the pavement to get away from Liath before roaring back at her, leaping into the air and bouncing off one of the support pillars while activating Blaze Luminous mid-flight and slamming the energy shield down on the concrete as the Initiate dodged before getting up to strike again almost instantaneously.

[ **="OH YES! THIS IS THE KIND OF SHOWING I WANTED FROM YOU!"=** ] The Emperor's Hand cackled with disturbingly ecstatic glee as she launched the Initiate back at the Lancelot, both machines becoming blurs of white and gold clashing against grey and yellow as they darted around the arena at high speed, blades and energy shields clashing while their harkens slammed through the air at the other Knightmare.

* * *

Colonel frowned as he, Darlton, Guilford, Euphemia, Lloyd, and Cornelia watched from the armored viewing box.

"What's the point of this? She's clearly at the advantage, why not finish it?" Cornelia asked boredly, she'd been rather irate when Lloyd informed her that Liath had promoted Kururugi to lieutenant but what could one do against someone who represented the will of the Emperor?

The second in command of Repliforce turned to the Viceroy. "It seems like she's attempting to _teach_ Kururugi that he cannot rely on Lancelot's performance forever."

Lloyd gave him an irate look.

"No offense Earl Asplund but various groups _are_ closing the gap as we speak, the Militarized Zone of India is already testing a number of Seventh Generation units that've been codenamed Guren according to SIGINT and reports filed by the 501st during combat ops in Area 12." Colonel replied.

"Ah yes… I'm assuming that'd be Rakshata's work…" Lloyd groused. "A shame that our nation sidelined her for not being Britannian, now we're likely to pay the price for such arrogance."

Darlton raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Rakshata was previously involved in the cybernetics field, she studied at the Imperial Colchester Institute alongside me and Cecile, the three of us met shortly after I transferred there from MIT with the formerly Lord Jeremiah after being lured away by the promise of an Imperial commission." Lloyd explained. "Sadly despite our initial interactions being rather good-natured, the rest of the students certainly didn't take kindly to an _Indian_ woman showing them up, and I was unknowingly roped into several incidents that sullied her reputation, something that combined with the fact we both wanted to be in charge of our separate projects has left bad blood between us ever since… Which is unfortunate given that we co-developed the Yggdrasil drive together."

Guilford frowned. "A shame, someone like her could've been useful to Britannia for the Seventh Gen programs."

"Indeed…" Cornelia mumbled as the Initiate and Lancelot continued clashing blades before coming to a halt as Euphie watched and waited.

* * *

" _Can't keep going like this… Her endurance is inhuman even compared to_ mine. _"_ Suzaku thought as he panted, sweat pouring down his body as Lancelot. _"Is this what it's like for Lelouch when he tries to keep up with me?"_ Suzaku gripped the controls as Liath waited for his next move. He was out of options and on the verge of passing out. "One last strike… I doubt it'll succeed but… It's all I've got left… ME BOOST ACTIVATE! FULL POWER!"

The Lancelot shot forwards at three times its normal speed as Liath's Knightmare lunged at the white and gold blur.

There was a cacophonous shriek of crashing metal as the audience stood and gazed in horror as a dust cloud expanded, Darlton and Colonel shouting for medical and damage control teams to report to the arena as alarms blared while the fire suppression systems preemptively doused the arena floor in foam.

"What in the name of…" Cornelia whispered as two figures emerged from the smoke and dust.

An exhausted and bruised Suzaku draped over the shoulder of a somewhat battered Liath met the first responders, the Executrix handing Kururugi over to them as she smirked wrly, her mouth the only visible portion of her face under her damaged mask, noting that her skin was slightly lighter than Lelouch's.

Suzaku's ringing ears couldn't make out the sounds around him but he did see her mouth out, 'well done.' as he was laid out on the stretcher.

All the while, he couldn't put the feeling that he'd met her before today out of his mind before he passed out.

* * *

 **August 23, 1962 AD/2017 ATB.**

 **Cain Labs, Abel City, Republic of Australia.**

X and C2 walked into Dr. Cain's office, the latter glancing around at pictures of him on dig sites, from his youth to his older days, noting that many of the later photos featured X in them.

"Dr. Cain? You wanted to see us?" X asked as the elderly man raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, X my boy, thank you for coming, have you been well?" Cain asked jovially to the Reploid he considered the closest thing he had to a son.

X nodded at him. "I've been doing fine, as have Zero and Sigma." He replied, a smile on his face.

Cain nodded before turning to C2. "And you must be C2 my dear."

C2 bowed to him. "Yes, it's an honor to meet you sir." She stated, still unable to believe a man with an _Archaeological_ degree had managed to lead effort to reverse engineer X, either he'd dabbled heavily in engineering beforehand or he was just a certifiable genius.

"Such manners... X, could you please head to your old quarters... I have something I must speak to miss C2 about in private." Cain stated, his expression changing a bit.

"Uh... Yes." X replied as he turned and walked out the door, the soundproof sliding door closing behind him.

Cain took a more serious look on his face. "So you're the third one..." He stated, as if a fact.

"I... Don't know what you're talking about..." C2 denied hastily.

"I've gone through the data files in Doctor Light's old lab, what I could recover anyways, including some footage sent over by Doctor Noelle Lalinde, your creator, as part of ongoing correspondence between the two. I'm not sure if she'd appreciate the actions you've taken with 'Zero' but I digress."

C2 stiffened, had she been human she'd have broken out into a cold sweat.

"Calm yourself, I have no intent of outing you to the Britannians or Maverick Hunters... It's not the darkest secret I've kept from people..." He murmured, remembering the secret of X's partner, Zero, one that might shake the red armored hunter to his core.

"How did you know..."

"I was an acquaintance of Empress Marianne much like the Ashfords, even after I fled Britannia when elements of the military moved to seize my research following Sigma's construction. Ruben and I arranged everything so that I was to be the 'backup residence' in the event her children were in danger of discovery in Area 11 or as a potential site for them to flee too once Lelouch graduate from high school." He explained as he leaned back. "I figured that it was only a matter of time before her son followed in the footsteps of numerous other Britannian Royals and Nobles who've grown fed up with the self-consuming role of that country's elite over history. He's just one of the lucky few that's lasted _this long_. Most never even get the chance to launch their plans."

C2 relaxed visibly at that, if Cain was on a first name basis with Ruben K. Ashford then he could certainly be trusted, even if the statement about the typical lifespan of those who rebelled against Britannia was rather morbid. "That's a relief..." She sighed before looking pensively at his computer.

"You wish to see anything I've managed to recover?" He asked.

"Yes... Please..." She requested earnestly, desiring to know more about her past.

Cain nodded and pressed play as she walked over and stared at the screen.

A female, green armored robot with brown twin-tailed hair became visible on it, her flextanium cheeks being stretched about by a pair of white gloved hands.

["Veshper... Sthop messhing with me while I'm whorking on the chamera..."]

["Aww but sis! It's helping C2 not be bored."] The other robot, a female wasp themed one, said as she released her 'sibling's' cheeks.

There was some giggling in the background, a voice that C2 recognized as her own.

["Vesper Woman, stop bugging Tempo"] A voice that could only have been Dr. Lalinde scolded.

["Hah! I got mom to say a pun without realizing it!"] She exclaimed happily.

Quake woman simply sighed as she activated her drill bits on Camera after handing it to Vesper Woman. ["You see these C2?"]

["Yeah, they're like mine!"] She chirped happily, with almost childlike innocence that reminded her of Nunnally, the camera panning over to reveal a partially assembled C2 laying on a table, looking at them as Dr. Lalinde soldered something on her arm.

["It's because I'm the primary basis for your design."] Tempo explained as Vesper Woman buzzed over to her.

["Booooring! Maybe I should talk about your crush on Blues and send the video to him!"] Vesper woman shouted as her sister grabbed at the camera.

["Okay that's enough of that!"] She said hastily.

["Girls! GIRLS!"] Dr. Lalinde shouted while C2 laughed in the background before the video cut out.

Dr. Cain glanced over at C2, who simply stared at the black screen. "Are you alright...?"

She wiped a tear off her face. "Yes... I'll be fine..." She whispered as it slowly dawned on her that those few ethics tests she remembered may have been the root cause for her developed cynicism, and were likely intentionally created for that purpose.

"I'll let you know when I recover more data..." He assured her.

C2 nodded and began to leave before Dr. Cain stopped her. "One more note, that other Robot, Tempo, who you're based on... According to Light's logs her designation is LMN-001, Quake Woman, a geological research and survey robot."

"Quake Woman..." She chuckled as she realized her designation as Zero's Q2 was more than apt. "Thank you Dr. Cain... For all of this..." She whispered as she walked out of the room, leaving Cain to wonder if his choice of words about Doctor Lalinde's approval had been the correct ones to say to her.

"Did I just send that girl down the wrong path... I hope not..." He wondered in resignation.

Only time would tell.

* * *

 **August 23, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Zero and Iris sat on a bench in a park near the Omotesandō Mall, the former regaling her about the time he and X had fought a Maverick by the name of Lure Anglerfish, a Japanese deep-sea research Reploid who'd gone rogue after deciding that targeting Britannian shipping was a better use of her skills in the years following the invasion.

This had been mostly since nobody really wanted her, the Soviets had no use for another Deep Sea research unit, even for naval purposes, the Chinese didn't care, and the EU rejected her request out of hand after a group of unions lobbied to prevent the ingress of unemployed Japanese Reploids to the EU out of concerns it would displace European workers from their jobs, something that was a common theme in the supposedly 'equal' EU with its out of control lobbying from innumerable groups. While Australia was already at their effective capacity for refugee ingress and was having difficulty accommodating the Japanese diaspora that had fled their homeland in the aftermath of the Britannian invasion.

X had been in favor of letting her just go off somewhere on the condition she stop attacking ships, but Zero had known from the start that she was obsessed with revenge for Britannia ruining her life and it wouldn't be long until she got bold enough to target warships.

Indeed, they'd caught up to her attacking one of Marty's ex-JSDF pirate submarines after having mistaken its sonar signature for a Britannian vessel, which likely was a result of Lure being a civilian unit rather than a military Reploid.

The irony of two Japanese aquatic Reploids, one former search and rescue, and the other a research unit, turned pirates getting into a grudge fight was palpable to Iris.

Said submarine had escaped while they occupied the Maverick, much to the chagrin of the Britannian and Chinese Navies.

The fight was one of their more interesting ones as halfway through a squadron of Chinese Destroyers showed up and began firing torpedoes from their side mounted tubes and deck VLS cells into the melee.

"And that's when I got the idea to just shoot the torpedoes, X naturally thought the humans might get hurt, but they were in more danger from number of warheads they'd dropped into the water on active sonar homing than anything else." He explained as Iris giggled.

"Then what happened?" Iris asked, hanging on his every word.

"I shot the closest torpedo to Lure Anglerfish and sent it spiraling into her, apparently she was made of sterner stuff than I thought because X and I had to shoot another eight torpedoes before she finally went down." Zero said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"I guess it's because she was a deep-sea research unit." Iris suggested, causing Zero to shrug as they watched the hustle and bustle of the Tokyo Settlement pick up again following the total stoppage imposed by the Emperor's speech.

Iris smiled at him. "I enjoy spending time with you Zero…"

He smiled back. "And I enjoy spending time with you too Iris."

It would've been perfect, were it not for their communicators chirping.

Zero sighed as he got up. "Zero here."

["Zero, something's going down with the Britannian Military, they're preparing to deploy a sizable amount of forces, including a G-1 command base."] Layer reported from the Maverick Hunter HQ.

"A G-1… Don't tell me Cornelia is trying to lure out that other 'Zero'…" He groaned.

["She's bringing Repliforce units with her as well…"]

Zero glanced back at Iris and sighed at her pensive look.

"Damnit all…"

* * *

 **AN: Yeah, Liath is going to be a rather** **important recurring character.**

 **If you absolutely need a mental image of her, think Resolute Cobra Commander, without the Cobra iconography of course, in an all grey uniform with a Vincent Ward head, sans forehead jewel camera, inspired helmet.**

 **As for whether she's an OC? Yeah, I'll leave that up to you to decide, you're getting no answers before the end of the R1 arc.**

 **The design of the armor for her troops is just Red Faction Guerilla EDF Trooper armor that's been recolored. As for the why, because eh I feel like it works the best out of my options, I originally planned for them to wear modified Karskin Pattern Armor but I figured that was too on the nose and didn't look right.**

 **Also yeah, Lelouch isn't easy moding this time, I've always found his over-reliance on his Geass to be something that should've bit him in the ass more often than just the Euphinator Incident and the obvious betrayal by the Black Knights.**

 **And of course in the second battle of Tokyo when he forgot he Geassed Suzaku into surviving by any means necessary and the dumbass brought a WMD to a Knightmare fight (even if literally anyone else would've fired it if Schneizel told them to).**

 **My theory is that everything leading up to that moment starting from the Shrine incident had been manipulated by Schneizel but still.**

 **Back on topic. Every** _ **single**_ **major strategy he has is in part totally reliant on Geass to work, it's only due to plot that someone didn't catch on sooner about all these strange and out of character actions by military personnel that all just so happen to coincidentally involve Zero. Which means that the ever cynical C2 will tell him to cool it with the Geass, and Lelouch will oblige at least initially before getting cocky again.**

 **I mean Lelouch is entirely capable of pulling some serious bullshit off but he became so reliant on his Geass it may have stifled his ability to innovate during the first Rebellion, his strategy to blow the walls of the settlement and the plates literally only worked because Geass was a surprise, had Cornelia or someone else randomly changed the guard shifts everything could've gone to hell for him.**

 **And since Reploids are immune to Geass that might end very poorly this go around.**

 **Honestly had Cornelia not been rendered a total wreck by the Euphinator incident she'd have probably outed Lelouch anyways for having some supernatural power, since she did figure Zero was potentially him long before anyone else.**

 **Possibly including Schneizel.**

 **On another note the Lancelot Initiate is literally just the Lancelot club with the head of the Sutherland Club and the factspheres being torso mounted, I figured that for practical concerns, Lloyd would at least need to offer up a working proof of concept to the Military before they could even begin to** _ **consider**_ **funding his pet project, which requires an** _ **absurd**_ **amount of Sakuradite for a single KMF.**

 **I won't be using Rai at all in this fic as I have literally no idea what to do with him, but certain game exclusive KMFs will be included, I plan for the Lancelot Club (Z-02C Bors here) and Frontier (Z-02 Lionel here, also _not pink._ And also bearing Club style shoulders and torso.) (which is just a lower spec version of the Lancelot but otherwise identical structurally to the original Z-01) to be limited production units intended for highly elite units like Royal/Imperial Guards, and the personal forces of the Knights of the Round, with the Bors being the commander unit because giant horn.**

 **Consider that the Lancelot is implied to be recently built given its weapons took like eight episodes to all be completed and with a number of powerful individuals very interested in attempting to make a limited production version to justify the sunk costs into development until the Vincent line begins to come online.**

 **And yes, the color scheme is an intentional reference to Anakin's preferred scheme for his starfighters, I'm deliberately making Liath a pseudo-Vaderian figure.**

 **As for N.N.'s thoughts on Lelouch and Nunnally's interactions... In canon that wouldn't be the last time that incestuous undertone was unintentionally made by the two, the other I know of in the canon is in one of the Picture Dramas, Stage 8.75 where Nunnally outright asks Lelouch to 'train' her to be as great as Cornelia, not understanding that when Milly said that she was referring to rumors of Cornelia having sex with her soldiers, and he agrees, not realizing that what he and Nunnally were talking about would be horribly misconstrued.**

 **Which it was, by presumably everyone except Nina, Suzaku and Sayoko, the former of whom was too busy looking at Euphie in a swimsuit to care, and the latter whom were more sensible than anyone else.**

 **As for how Cain figured out Lelouch may perhaps be Zero... Well he's certainly not stupid given that he managed to reverse engineer X in the Mega Man X canon despite being an archaeologist of all things and since here he's a close acquaintance of both Ruben Ashford and Marianne it's likely he knew enough about Lelouch's mentality and probably remembers the years of the emblem of blood well enough to note the similarities between father (Charles) and son (Lelouch). That said, he certainly can be trusted to keep very big secrets.**

 _ **Looks at the origins of the other Zero in this fic**_ **.**

 **Also before anyone brings up the 'Techno is a hacker' thing, yeah I know, except that's not hacking in Xtreme 1, it's just him implanting viruses in the Mother Computer.**

 **Besides, you can't hack a vital computer network if you have an _issued_ password for it yourself anyways, then it's just outright infiltration.**

 **That said, there's more than a few smaller references in this chapter that might or might not be expanded upon later on.**


	7. Stage 7: A lesson at Saitama

**AN: And here's Saitama.**

 **How can this get any worse for Lelouch than it did in canon?**

 **Well, there's a lot of ways really, but none of them will occur here, except getting slapped for his suicide threat.**

 **Got to keep the plot rolling of course**

 **Also Cornelia in the English dub will never not make me think of Major Kusunagi (or at least her GiTS:SAC iteration).**

 **Mostly because their dub VAs are the same as I realized upon rewatching CG.**

 **The sheer coincidence that the scene where Lelouch merges with the Sutherland stream and heads to Cornelia's G-1 has some pretty GiTS-like music is hilarious and fitting in retrospect.**

 **On another note, this would've been uploaded last week but Fallout New Vegas and Hearts of Iron IV Mods are harsh temptresses.**

 **So yeah, schedule will be slightly irregular due to me getting back on a gaming kick and working on English Comp papers.**

* * *

 **August 24, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, KMF hangar, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The recently returned Cornelia, alongside two of her armsmen and Lloyd Asplund, walked through the main hangar on an inspection tour.

For Cornelia it was a way to blow off steam after returning to discover that Executrix Liath had been dispatched by her father under her nose, and partially to promote Kururugi to the rank of Lieutenant for his actions at Shinjuku, in refusing Zero's offer of joining him, and in defense of Jeremiah Gottwald from a murder attempt, which also nearly claimed Euphie's life.

She'd only _barely_ been talked down from executing Kewell Soresi herself.

Her preferred method, a duel against Darlton and Guilford was a no-go thanks to the arena being inspected for structural damage following the duel between Kururugi and Liath the previous day.

"And about your precious Knightmare…?" She asked the Earl of Pudding, the aforementioned Knightmare had been quickly repaired by the ASEEC team after the damage it suffered previous day's duel so as to avoid the wrath of Lloyd before being transferred to the facility where it was being maintained and tested.

"Lancelot is not only a 7th Generation Knightmare Frame, it also boasts significant amounts of Sakuradite laced throughout its chassis and frame, giving it performance well beyond what most other designs could ever hope to achieve. We hope to begin production of a somewhat simplified model within a year or so, partially to keep ahead of Soviet and European innovations in Knightmares." He said as he glanced at the Initiate, Lancelot's older, less powerful and sturdy sibling, and Executrix Liath's personal Knightmare frame, as it underwent repairs. "But I doubt that the Bors or Lionel will be suitable for true mass production, a shame. Well at least the Vincent Program will be well underway over the next year."

The party stopped,and Cornelia spun on her heel to face Lloyd. "I understand that the Lancelot's pilot is an Eleven." She remarked without hesitation.

"Ah yes, Prince Schneizel gave us broad discretion to find the most suitable pilot, and Lieutenant Kururugi clocked in at an astonishing 94 percent on his first sortie, even among out best test pilots I doubt we'll ever find someone so compatible." Lloyd replied calmly, Suzaku hadn't been out for long after overexerting himself during the duel between him and Liath and had been sent to Ashford for the day's classes after being cleared by medical.

"Yes, you haven't explained your compatibility standards yet."

"It's quite simple, my primary concern is can they withstand the sudden acceleration and deceleration that more complex maneuvers with the Lancelot cause? In top speed and acceleration rate alone Lancelot is in an entirely differently league from the Sutherland and Gloucester, as you are no doubt aware of by now. Lieutenant Kururugi is extremely physically fit and quite well trained in martial arts, to the point that several special forces units apparently demanded hand to hand sparring sessions with him while he was in training." Lloyd explained. "These traits enable him to withstand the punishment dealt to the human body by the G forces the Lancelot can achieve and to push the frame to its limits in ways that even _I_ never dreamed of as you witnessed yesterday."

Cornelia supposed that was acceptable. "I see…" She noted.

"You're not fond of him piloting?" Lloyd asked candidly.

"I'm trying to win without relying too much on the numbers." The Second Princess replied bluntly.

"Ah, but your highness, wouldn't letting the public know about Lieutenant Kururugi piloting the Lancelot into battle be a symbol of Elevens serving Britannia and doing great things, thus undercutting the image that the resistance chooses to push?" He suggested, it was a valid point even if his primary concern was more battle data for the Lancelot.

Cornelia glanced to the side at one of the Sutherlands undergoing maintenance. "I'll consider that line of thought for the future. As for now that information shall remain confidential." She said after a few moments.

Lloyd simply shrugged in response, there wasn't much else he could do to convince her.

* * *

 **August 24, 2017 ATB.**

 **ASEEC Temporary Service/Research Center, Ashford Technical University, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Suzaku sighed as he worked on his homework while Cecile went over the Lancelot's data from the duel with Executrix Liath from the previous day, wincing as his bruises began acting up again.

Admittedly Lloyd would've preferred a full live fire exercise or real combat, but it would tide him over.

Said Knightmare Frame was undergoing cleaning nearby, one of the maintenance staff wiping off its faceplate while a pair of Reploids inspected the state of the right-side factsphere lens, both of them occasionally glancing warily at the machine's lower torso where the Yggdrasil drive was housed.

"Sorry you have to watch me do my homework." Suzaku apologized, aware that Liath was having them come out to the Fuji maneuvering grounds in the next few days to do full scale maneuvers for about three days with the 501st and the Area 11 forces, with the former running with OPFOR, and that Cecile might be distracted by him at points while compiling the data _and_ preparing for that event logistically.

Which was probably part of the reason Lloyd was in a good mood recently, as he could further anticipate fresh data, even if it wasn't from live combat.

"Oh don't worry about it, you've never attended a regular school before. So it can't be avoided." She replied as she paused her data organization.

Suzaku shrugged. "The guys on the student council are helping me too… But… It's still hard." He admitted.

Cecile giggled a bit. "To be perfectly honest with you I was a little bit worried, Ashford is supposed to be a more liberal school with regards to numbers, but I was afraid you weren't fitting in well." She said.

Suzaku remembered the incident where one of his gym shirts and his locker had been vandalized, but to his credit, kept the mixed emotions off his face. There were actually a handful of other honorary Britannians at Ashford but none of them were at the high school level apparently.

"Me too. I was expecting that." He replied, looking down at his history book again. "But I happened to run into an old friend there and he smoothed most everything out for me."

There was also the fact that him being a soldier had kept the worst troublemakers at bay.

Cecile smiled at him. "Be sure you never take that friend for granted. If your friendship continues, it won't have been coincidence, it will have been predestined." She said.

Suzaku really wasn't sure what to say to that except. "Okay."

She glanced over at the rice balls sitting next to Suzaku's book. "Anyways, please try one of these." She offered.

Suzaku glanced at the Onigiri, having noticed them but not really thought much about them. "Uh, thank you. I will." He bit into it, noticing an odd taste compared to the usual salty or sour of common Onigiri fillings.

"I'd like your opinion of them." Cecile said as she watched Suzaku.

"There's jam." He replied, mildly confused.

Cecile smiled at him. "Yes, I just happened to get some lovely blueberries while buying rations for Lloyd earlier and thought I'd make a traditional snack for you."

Before Suzaku could reply and ask about the odd choice, Lloyd walked in.

"Alright everyone! Pack it up, pack it up! We're done for today! Don't do anymore!" He shouted as he waved his arms around. "Hip! Hip! Hooooraaaay! That's all folks!" He said before finally bending over, seemingly deflated.

Suzaku always found Lloyd's end of work day behavior bewildering. The man _always_ seemed visibly depressed that he couldn't work on the Lancelot anymore until the next day.

"Uh… Uhm…" Suzaku mumbled as Cecile giggled.

"Go to school Suzaku, classes may be over for the day but it'll do well for you to socialize with other people your age who aren't in the military, besides I assume your summonings from the Executrix has people wondering what happened with you." She suggested.

Suzaku nodded and went to go change into his Ashford uniform, grabbing the remaining rice balls as he did so.

"Oh by the way Suzaku! We're getting a new load of simulator data that I _really_ want you to try out later this week! Preferably _before_ the exercises." Lloyd exclaimed as Suzaku stopped partway.

"What kind of sim data?" He asked, turning back to face Lloyd.

"Apparently a 7th Gen type frame called Guren. The Executrix provided it to me based on combat experience against two variants of it during operations against Peace Mark in Area 12 prior to her arrival." Lloyd sounded exceedingly… Eager… To pit Lancelot against this Guren unit for some reason.

"Right… I'll make room in my schedule for that…" Suzaku sighed as he walked out of the hangar.

* * *

 **August 24, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Shirley was busy setting up Arthur's new cat post while Kallen watched Arthur mess around in a box he'd been investigating, Milly's voice echoing over the PA in the background with an announcement neither was paying attention to.

"Say can I ask you something important?" Shirley asked as Kallen leaned in to get the cat out of the box.

"Sure, what is it?" She replied in the lazy manner that accompanied her 'sickly' disguise.

"Kallen… Are you hiding something from us…?" Kallen freezing mid-way through taking Arthur out of the box. "If it's something too personal."

"No. What're you talking about." She replied to Shirley as she held Arthur close to her chest. And checked to make sure her pouch was still on her. _"What the hell is she talking about… Is she aware I'm Japanese?!"_

"You can tell me, I promise I won't be shocked or upset." Shirley said as she turned to look at Kallen. "Well the thing is, I happened to see you before…"

Kallen frowned slightly as she raised her knife and extended the blade, causing Arthur to panic and attempt to pry himself free of her grip. She _really_ didn't want to have to kill Shirley, not just because the girl seemed nice, but also because she would _immediately_ be the prime suspect given that most of the student council barring Suzaku and Nunnally perhaps would be aware she was naturally the last person who could've seen Shirley alive.

Ohgi and the others would have no choice but to relocate without telling her once the cops started closing in.

Ironically, Arthur's frantic struggling blocked the knife from view and saved her from _actually_ having to kill Shirley when the girl turned around suddenly. "YOU'RE GOING OUT WITH LULU RIGHT!" She cried out indignantly.

" _WHAT?!"_ Kallen thought as she kept her face relatively calm. "Lulu?" She asked, anticipating it was a pet name for Lelouch that Shirly had made up.

"The other day I saw you outside!" Shirley stated.

" _Wait… WAIT WHAT!?"_ Kallen stood up after retracting the knife and putting the pouch back into her pocket. "No no no no! That was all **his** doing!" She said in denial of the accusation after realizing what she was referring to.

" **HIS DOING!?** " Shirley squeaked.

"No! Wait! It wasn't like that!" Kallen replied.

"I don't get it you were trying so hard to catch the cat before…"

"No that wasn't it, besides it's not like we _kissed_ or anything!" Kallen said as her brain screamed in agony at the stupidity of her big mouth.

The look on Shirley's face was one of betrayal and disbelief, her left eyebrow twitched in a rather visible manner. "Or _anything_! Then you stopped short of actually doing it…"

Kallen's face flushed red. "Would you stop imagining things! You don't understand the circumstances one bit!"

* * *

Elsewhere, Nina blinked as she released she'd made a breakthrough in reproducing Enrico Fermi's calculations from the eighties. "I divided it!" She chirped happily as she opened up a notebook to record the event.

* * *

 **August 24, 1962 AD/2017 ATB.**

 **Cain Labs, Abel City, Republic of Australia.**

C2 looked up lazily as X glanced over from a report he'd been looking at as they awaited a final disposition on whether or not C2 was fit to leave.

"What is it…?"

"I have the feeling I'm missing out on some prime needling material…" She mumbled as she looked down at an E Can sitting before her.

"What…?"

"Don't bother yourself about it." She said, waving him off as she picked up the unopened can, popped it open and sipped it.

"Hey! That's mine!" X exclaimed indignantly.

"First sip is the winner." She replied coolly as she lightly waved the can at him.

X sighed in resignation. "Alright then."

"You think I can order pizza and charge it to your card?"

"Why are you doing this…" He asked, despite knowing the likely answer.

"Because it annoys you." She taunted, sticking her tongue out at him.

" _And there it is."_

"So, why did Dr. Cain call us here and then just leave us cooped up in a room after I talked with him?"

"For the eighteenth time _I_. _Don't_. _Know_."

"Bored again…"

"Just find something to do." He told her as he sighed.

"I'm ordering Pizza and charging it to your card then." She informed him as she picked up the phone and dialed the closest pizza place.

X groaned loudly.

* * *

 **August 24, 2017 ATB.**

 **Saitama Ghetto Airspace, Area 11.**

Colonel watched from a UV-3 Sea King's side door as dozens of tanks, ride armors, Knightmare Frames, Mechaniloids, APCs, trucks and other vehicles rumbled across the Sakitama bridge while Gunship and transport VTOLs and flying Mechaniloids passed overhead in preparation for the coming operation.

Initially Cornelia wanted to place units _on_ the bridge, but Colonel had advised against it, and Liath had overruled Cornelia anyways. Until they were absolutely certain it wouldn't be rigged to blow it was a danger to any units attempting to guard it directly from atop it.

Thus a number of LCMs, LCVPs, and LCTs had been brought up to serve as a backup supply column in the event the bridge _was_ blown until the engineers could assemble a pontoon bridge.

"Status on the arrival of the G-1?" He requested over his radio.

["Approximately another half an hour sir."] The pilot reported.

He mumbled something as he watched a squadron of patrol boats and a pair of heavy Monitors, backed by ten smaller river monitors sail up the Ara river to take their assigned stations, the artillery guns of the monitors swiveling and elevating until they were aligned with their designated bombardment areas.

"This is Colonel, Naval force is in position. Will continue monitoring the situation."

["Roger that."]

* * *

 **August 24, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Rivalz watched the immense, hulking form of a G-1 Mobile base rumble down the main highway of the settlement, stunned speechless by its deployment.

" _Is there gonna be another operation so soon…?"_ He wondered as he waited for the traffic halt order to be cleared.

* * *

 **Saitama Ghetto, Area 11.**

"The Saitama Ghetto is now completely surrounded. The Yamato Alliance's base is located here and up to half the people in this neighborhood are cooperating with them." General Darlton stated as the G-1's forward tactical screen switched back to a map of the Ghetto after it had taken position at the staging area. "So if we proceed now we have a high degree of forcing them to fight us on our terms."

Cornelia frowned as she sat on the command throne of the G-1, Colonel to her right and Guliford to her left, with Executrix Liath hovering nearby with no less than four of her own soldiers. "What'll be the effect on production?" The Viceroy asked.

"Primary sector output will decrease by no less than oh point two percent. Total economic downturn will be similar as most of the Ghetto is not employed in the larger economy." Darlton replied as Cornelia glanced at Liath, whom nodded almost imperceptibly to confirm the data.

"Within expectations you mean. Alright." She turned to look at Clovis's former command staff, whom were being observed by a pair of Repliforce troopers. "All of you here participated in the Shinjuku Disaster. Is that correct?"

The men bowed their heads and put their hands over their hearts. "Yes, and we're indebted to you Princess Cornelia for your mercy." The center man spoke.

"That's _not_ what I'm asking." She said, raising her voice in irritation. "Do you think the _conditions_ are similar?" She asked, leaving them speechless briefly. "To those in _Shinjuku_." She clarified.

* * *

 **August 24, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

N.N. giggled while she prodded C2's Cheese-kun plush as Lelouch walked in with a notable scowl on his face.

"Oh, what's got you looking so serious. It couldn't possibly be related to the news could it?" She teased as she watched the broadcast of Cornelia's plans to attack Saitama.

He cast a glare in her direction.

* * *

 **Saitama Ghetto, Area 11.**

"The terrorist known as 'Zero' is a criminal with a flair for the theatrical." Cornelia stated, narrowing her eyes slightly, clarifying that she meant the presumed human terrorist rather than the Maverick Hunter.

Given the utter mess the Purists caused with the Maverick Hunters in the aftermath of said terrorist's appearance, it was better to be safe than sorry at this point.

"I've recreated roughly the exact same conditions that existed in Shinjuku here in order to draw him out." She explained. "If he's the overconfident type, I predict he'll come here to try and _kill_ me."

"Viceory! You'd really risk your own life like this!?" One of Clovis's officers exclaimed, stunned.

Cornelia locked her eyes on the man. "What you fail to understand is that war is a struggle between pride and life. At what point do you value your life and the lives of your forces over pride and cut your losses? That is what I'm testing Zero for, if he shows up and takes command of the insurgents I'll have gained valuable insight into how he operates." She explained sternly. "In the best case scenario we capture or kill him and confirm it. However I'll settle for causing a major setback to his plans."

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence/Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

N.N. watched Lelouch unzip a suitcase he was using to store his stolen Britannian infantry combat uniform and its equipment, said objects organized on the floor next to him.

"You know Cornelia is provoking you right? If you do this you'll play right into her hands like an amateur would." N.N. advised him as he continued nonetheless.

"They went to such trouble to invite me though, besides there's something I'd like to ask Cornelia personally." He replied arrogantly.

"Assuming you get past both Executrix Liath _and_ Repliforce, given that their troops are both there as well most likely since they have nothing better to do, your Geass only works with direct eye contact though untinted glass and it doesn't work on machines at all." N.N. pointed out bluntly.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

"How? C2 is still under observation in _Australia_ and won't be back until tonight at the earliest, so you can't use her to draw off Colonel should he take to the field, if she were here she'd probably say this is too risky as well. There's too many variables you can't account for or control."

Lelouch shrugged. "I'll make it work."

"Destroying Britannia or finding out who killed your mother, one day those goals are going to collide and some of your subordinates may not like the result if you chose the latter over the former." She warned him, wagging a finger at Lelouch as she rolled onto hr side. "C2 is already conflicted, even if she remains loyal, given that she's reactivated some of her memories regarding her ethics. If one screwup of yours affects civilians on a mass scale, it might cause her to doubt your abilities and cause."

Lelouch frowned before shruggng. "I'll take that under consideration but I doubt it'll come to that, and anyways the two goals are of equal importance. The members of the Royal Family compete with eachother to see who will ascend the throne and become the next ruler of Britannia. Or rather, they're being _forced_ to fight. By _that man_." he snarled.

"How are you sure that the lust for power some of your siblings has isn't the cause of the struggle?" N.N. posited. "Didn't the ascension of the 98th Emperor only occur when he was forced to kill off _all_ of his siblings, why do you act like he had a choice in the matter? Besides, the very thing you hate is the same thing that makes Britannia strong, only the most qualified, deceitful, and skillful survive to rule. The heir best fit to rule is thus the last one left standing."

"Exactly, the weak ones lose and are cast aside. Britannia is that kind of nation, that kind of world. Even _if_ that man is just as much a victim as me and Nunnally, he's still perpetuating the cycle by encouraging these power struggles. Thus he's part of the problem." He shot back.

" _Isn't the whole world like this? Those who cannot keep up and compete with the rest of society are left to rot? You cannot change an ingrained survival instinct Lelouch. No matter how hard you think you can. You're upset because Britannia makes it bare and_ obvious _before the world, because of how it tossed you and your sister aside."_ N.N. thought as she got out of bed and stood in front of the door, Lelouch not noticing this action.

"Survival of the fittest is the basic rule of existence. That which cannot adapt can only die." She noted as she reached into her shirt and grabbed at something to pul it out.

Lelouch slammed the luggage bag shut. "If that's true then what happens to Nunnally!? Should I give up on my sister because she's frail!? I refuse to accept that! I'll wipe out that sort of world myself!" He said heatedly as he turned around to face her and froze dead in his tracks.

N.N. sighed and flick the safety off on the pistol she'd swiped from one of the dead Royal Guardsmen in Shinjuku, a pistol that was now fitted with a suppressor, Lelouch's face twisting into one of shock and terror as they stood there, silently staring eachother down.

* * *

Suzaku hummed a tune to himself as he walked through the hallway, wagging a cattail toy as he walked up to the Student Council meeting room.

He heard Kallen's muffled voice on the other side of the door. "Like I said! There's nothing between Lelouch and I!" She said to Shirley before turning to leave after the door opened, jolting back a little upon seeing Suzaku standing there.

"What about Lelouch…?" He asked, confused.

Kallen ignored him and looked back at Shirley. "Anyway, that's how it is." She slipped past Suzaku and walked away. "There's nothing going on…" She grumbled to herself as Suzaku watched her leave before peeking into the room, seeing Shirley holding Arthur near his new cat-post.

"Uhm… Where's Lelouch…?" He asked.

" **I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS! AND I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!** " Shirley shouted at him whilst on the verge of tears, leaving Suzaku stunned and even more confused.

* * *

N.N. frowned. "I can't let you go and get yourself kill or captured Lelouch, I need you to fulfill your end of our bargain." She stated as she held him at gunpoint.

"What you're saying and what you're doing are contradictory." He noted after regaining his composure.

"I won't kill you, just shoot you in the arm or leg. Maybe the crotch if you annoy me enough about this." She replied calmly.

He winced at the crotch part but remained smug faced. "Now I get it, you're unable to use Geass yourself, aren't you?"

"Oh wow, it took you _this_ long to figure that out?" N.N. snarked, causing Lelouch some mild irritation.

"I'd suspected as much from the start actually. You obviously wouldn't've asked me to make a contract with you if you could use it yourself." He said as he pulled a pistol out from a chest holster he'd had custom made alongside the Zero costume and pointed it at her.

"I know you're not dumb enough to think that shooting me will work, besides, your weapon isn't suppressed and the soundproofing isn't as good as you'd like to think so Nunnally might hear it you know? How are you going to explain to her why she heard a gunshot? Especially if she calls someone to come help her?" N.N. questioned.

"It's simple, there won't be any gunshots if you cooperate." Lelouch said as he took his pistol and pressed the muzzle against his temple, N.N.'s face betraying her concern at this turn of events.

"Until I met you and C2, I was dead, an impotent corpse existing behind a façade of life. A life which itself was nothing but falsehoods. Day to day I merely went through the _motions_ of living, as if I was nothing more than a zombie, always feeling another part of me die as the next day dawned. If I am forced to go back to that, I would rather **die** in my _**entirety**_ than live another day with no meaning to my existence beyond what others decide **for** me, how I should act, how I should think! Because I'd be living a life that's not forged by **my own** decisions!" He declared as N.N. flicked the safety of her weapon back on and lowered it.

"Stop it! You win…" She said, more heatedly than he'd expected her to, as if he'd actually made her _upset_. "I see… It's a life that was created for you by others that you despise… And a life like that… Is probably worse to those who suffer through it than death."

He smirked at her and stepped past her after holstering the pistol after flicking the safety back on, realizing he'd potentially learned something about her today.

"C2's going to kill you for doing this you know."

"I'll handle that if she finds out." He said as he left.

Only when the door was shut did N.N. smirk again. "There'll be no _if_ Lelouch. There's _always_ consequences for stupid stunts like that." She crooned softly.

* * *

 **Saitama Ghetto, Area 11.**

Gunfire echoed through the ghetto as one of the local leaders, the Mayor to be precise, was gunned down by Britannian troops, the Reploids and humans keeping their rifles trained on the Elevens as one man, the Ghetto's Deputy Mayor, indignantly spoke up.

"Oh my god… Why the hell did you do that?! Even children are here! What's going on!? We haven't done _anything_!" He cried out.

"That's _exactly_ why we're doing this!" The human Corporal in charge of the squad replied. "The people of this ghetto _refused_ to report the terrorists, you _hide_ them, _cover_ for them, and _pressure_ the people who wish to do otherwise into _not_ doing so! That's _treason_ against a suzerain state!" He uttered gruffly, leaving the Deputy Mayor stunned as he realized what was about to come.

The soldiers promptly turned their weapons on the crowd.

"And the _punishment_ for treason is _execution_! Open fire!" The Sergeant ordered to his squad, the men and Reploids pulling the triggers of their rifles.

And gunfire echoed through the Ghetto yet again.

* * *

Inside the G-1, Darlton looked back at Cornelia. "We're done sweeping away those in charge." He reported without a hint of emotion.

Cornelia likewise didn't even bat an eye at the deaths, as far as she was concerned they were traitors to Britannia. "It's nearly time to begin putting our plan into motion. So shall we begin?"

"Right! Attention all forces! Commence the eradication of the Saitama Ghetto!" Darlton announced as the G-1's launch catapults opened up and began to deploy Sutherlands. The Purists, Repliforce, and the assigned 501st troops watching from the sidelines.

"All forces assume combat conditions!" He ordered as Knightmares, armored vehicles, ride armors, and Mechaniloids rolled into the Ghetto, backed by infantry and air support.

Colonel frowned. Ideally, he'd have brought fixed wing units and more heavy artillery beyond the monitors, but Cornelia had shot the suggestion down, she wanted Zero alive for interrogation and subsequent public execution as an enemy of the Empire.

If the plan worked they wouldn't need either of those assets anyways, and thus they'd waste time, fuel, and money moving them to the battlezone.

He supposed she had a point.

* * *

Behind the G-1, half the Purist Faction's remaining Sutherlands waited for orders, idling about with some Repliforce ride armors, the testbed Solar Reactor powered Sutherlands and Gloucesters that Repliforce was developing, and white and blue 501st Gloucester units.

"I don't understand, why won't Princess Cornelia order us to attack as well…?" Jeremiah questionedunder his breath.

"She won't because Orange is here." Kewell jabbed at him.

Jeremiah huffed as he looked at the man. "Or maybe she doesn't trust you to not shoot me and Viletta in the back Kewell. You and your lot are only here because your court martial was called off and the incident swept under the rug, unlike _me_ they have definite proof that you're _guilty_ of a crime. Besides, I don't think any of the regulars would trust a man willing to form a conspiracy to _murder_ one of their own." Jeremiah shot back as Kewell's face distorted in rage.

"Enough! Both of you!" Viletta shouted, causing the two to quiet down. _"Zero is at fault for all of this… Could that student be working with him…?"_ She thought, vaguely remembering an 'Alan Spacer' from Shinjuku.

* * *

["Suppression of area four complete. Elements of the Eighth and Eleventh Mechanized Infantry Battalions are sweeping North and South in a pincer movement, estimate at least twenty minutes until linkup. Request dispatch of additional recon Mets to area five."] Someone chattered on the radio as Lelouch watched the slaughter from his perch on the ruins of a parking garage.

" _Always the same. Cornelia replaces Clovis, yet Britannia never changes."_ He thought as he heard the sound of a slash harken firing nearby.

" _Took them long enough to notice me."_ He mused as Sutherland leapt over and landed next to him.

["What unit are you from? Your unit name and ID soldier!"] The pilot demanded as his Sutherland's torso MG deployed and aimed at Lelouch.

" _Well, time to begin my bluff, hopefully he's as impatient as that Purist woman was."_ Lelouch thought before speaking up, his latest lie rolling off his lips with practiced ease.

"Sir! Private Dario Torres with Third Reconnaissance Company, Eleventh Mechanized." Lelouch said before pulling a disc out of one of his belt pouches. "I obtained this item off one of the terrorists. Could I ask you to please transmit it's contents to headquarters for me sir?"

The Sutherland's cockpit hatch opened up and the pilot seat extended to the boarding position as the pilot stood up. "A disc huh… I'll still need to verify your ID first." The man said as he made eye contact with Lelouch.

" _Perfect."_ He thought. "Right, understood. But before we do that sir, I'd like to borrow your Sutherland. So hand it over." Lelouch ordered with a grin on his face as his Geass seized control of the pilot's mind.

"Sure… No problem, just take good care of it." The man replied before dismounting.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." Lelouch said smugly as he walked over to the Knightmare and rode the boarding line up.

* * *

 **August 24, 2017 ATB.**

 **Yamato Alliance HQ, Saitama Ghetto, Area 11.**

"It's hopeless…" Someone mumbled as the sounds of slaughter raged above the ex-subway station that was being used as the headquarters for the Yamato Alliance.

"Can't we break through along the Saikyou line?" Another man asked desperately.

"They've got armor blocking it."

"We can't use the backroads either and if we try to make a break for the river the patrol boats and VTOLs will tear us to shreds, and that's _if_ we get past the troops guarding the shoreline."

"Any reinforcements from Akabane or Jujou?" The de-facto leader of the group asked.

"Normally someone might get through, if they're lucky, but there are reports that Repliforce is running interdiction so I doubt even one man will get through, let alone a group."

"Izumi!" Someone shouted urgently as they ran over.

"Damn… Any word from the Toda or Kawaguchi districts?!" He asked the new arrival, hoping desperately for good news.

"Forget that, listen!" The man said and held up a radio handset, turning the device on.

After a brief moment of static, a voice played over the radio. ["This is Zero."]

"Zero?!" Izumi gasped in shock, realizing that this could be their big break.

But he knew that Cornelia wasn't even close to being a pushover like Clovis or the Purists.

"Zero, you mean!?"

["I assume all of you have heard about the Shinjuku incident, do what I say and you will be saved."] Lelouch claimed over the radio, nobody noticing the unusual behavior of their Geassed comrade.

* * *

 **Saitama Ghetto, Area 11.**

["B-12 suppression complete."]

["F-7 no sign of the enemy."]

["D-2-4 eighty-seven percent complete."]

["Gaulin team, change course to 5-1-6."] A controller ordered.

Sir Gaulin clicked his radio on. "Yes my lord. Moving to 5-1-6." He replied as he and his teammate changed course, rolling down a seemingly empty street past rows of ruined office complexes, storefronts and apartments.

"No response at all, this guy Zero is a no-show." Gaulin said as he glanced around on his sensor.

["Guess he's just another run of the mill terrorist."] His squadmate chuckled in reply.

As if tempted by fate, a pair of rocket propelled grenades soared into their frames and detonated on the left arms of their units, both pilots ejecting as their Sutherlands went down. Gaulin sweat nervously as he recognized that if the munitions had been launched a millisecond later or their Knightmares been that much faster, the warheads would've struck their cockpits.

"They came! Just like Zero said they would!" One of the Yamato Alliance rebels exclaimed as they watched the Britannian cockpit pods soar away.

* * *

Inside his Sutherland, Lelouch rested his head on one of his hands smugly as he looked at the tactical map as a large explosion sent a mushroom cloud boiling into the sky several blocks away, likely a gas main blowing up according to the factsphere. "Now, should I draw Cornelia out or make an opening." He mused as he considered his options.

Making his choice, he picked up a handset and flicked the transmitter on. "R1, R2, draw them back to the area where N2 is." He ordered. "B7, open fire towards 2 o'clock!"

* * *

Simultaneously a tank went up as a round impacted the side of the turret, the driver backing the vehicle away unmolested and firing a salvo of smoke grenades to cover its retreat as fire belched from the turret bustle while the blowoff panels flung themselves into the sky, the vehicle no longer combat effective but otherwise intact and fully crewed.

* * *

["P5's team will commence its barrage."] Two more Sutherlands went down under a hail of gunfire from an ambush, neither pilot ejecting as 25mm rounds tore them to shreds in their seats.

* * *

" _Already this is just like Shinjuku… Cornelia isn't_ _stupid… What's her game…"_ Lelouch thought warily.

* * *

"Gester team, contact lost! Believed KIA." Someone reported as Cornelia watched the readouts on the G-1's bridge.

"Enemy spotted in Sector G-4-7."

"Kozinski team engaging hostiles, they were ambushed by infantry and Knightmares."

"The enemy appears to be using Sutherlands, captured from our own forces!" Another officer reported, Cornelia remaining even-faced, anticipating these losses as acceptable for her plan.

If they became too much and Zero seriously threatened the G-1, then Repliforce's units and the 501st would move in backed by full air and artillery support.

And he'd cease to be a threat either way.

"Exactly the same as Shinjuku…" One of Clovis's officers whispered.

"Has there been any sign of Zero yet…?" Another asked.

Cornelia gave no response to anyone as she continued waiting.

" _Zero, you arrogant fool, did you honestly think we wouldn't figure out your tricks from before?"_ She thought as she watched the battle play out on the TACNET screens.

* * *

["N2, continue on that vector."] Lelouch ordered as a Britannian VTOL gunship was hit with a slash harken, the pilot and gunner ejecting before it broke apart and fell from the sky, scattering flaming debris over the Ghetto.

* * *

["R4, fire."] An APC stopped dead in its tracks, smoke spewing from its engine as the escorting infantry and Ride Armors opened up on the offending Knightmare with anti-armor weapons, forcing it to withdraw.

* * *

["N1 take the man on the left."] A Sutherland crashed into the pavement, knocking its pilot unconscious as it landed in a tangled heap.

* * *

"Alright…" He whispered to himself. "P3 take down the bridge and close down their primary route now." He ordered.

* * *

Explosions ripped along the Sakiyama bridge before it began collapsing into the river, taking only a dozen or so expendable Mechaniloids with it while the manned units and Reploids remained safely ashore as the suspension bridge was quickly swallowed up by the water, Lelouch unaware Cornelia had planned for this eventuality.

* * *

["This is P3, we only got about a dozen or so Mechaniloids. OH SHIT! PATROL BOAT SPOTTED US, FALLING BACK!"] P3 reported before the report of 30mm chaingun fire echoed over the channel.

"So Cornelia did expect that…" Lelouch mused. "No matter, we've cut off their reinforcement route for the moment, withdraw to Point 1-7-8 and await further orders." He replied after switching the transmitter back on.

["Roger!"]

* * *

"Point 1-7 has fallen as expected, Saikyama bridge span eighty percent destroyed." Someone reported calmly. "Halley team reports all green. Patrol Boat callsign " _Black Lagoon_ " reports firing on terrorist infantry with primary armament."

"Alright, that's enough." Cornelia said. "Order all ground and air troops to fall back, further damage and casualties serve no point, send in Repliforce special ops units to recover the cut off stragglers." She ordered.

"Fall back?!" One of Clovis's officers said as they rushed over to stand before her.

"With all due respect we can still fight them!" Another sputtered indignantly.

"We can't fight them like this." Cornelia replied plainly as Darlton opened a channel. "They're dictating the terms of engagement, we need to regroup."

* * *

["Attention all forces! Fall back behind the Ghetto perimeter at once! Formation doesn't matter! Repeat! Fall back behind Ghetto perimeter at once!"]

Lelouch sitting in his Sutherland smugly assumed victory, unaware that he was playing right into Cornelia's hands in his arrogance. "What? No stomach for it?" He asked rhetorically as he considered his next move. "If I blend in with the retreating units that'll put me right next to Cornelia." He said as he tapped the icon on his TACNET screen that represented the G-1. "Have I cleared the tasks at hand already?" He wondered, his earlier wariness displaced by the thrill of having his objective within reach.

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence/Ashford Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

N.N. giggled to herself as she laid on Lelouch's bed. "Yeah, I know, he's an idiot." She said seemingly to herself. "But regardless, that type of person is dangerous when given the right tools. I wonder which path he'll take." She asked.

There was a brief pause and then she frowned. "Yeah, yeah I get it." She grumbled as she sat up. "Just who the hell do you think I am anyway?" N.N. said as she slipped out of bed and walked over to Lelouch's other luggage bag, opening it up and taking the mask of Zero out, holding the object in her hands.

"It doesn't have that special weight to it just yet… But it will soon." She whispered.

Suzaku waved the cat toy in front of Arthur, occupying his attention briefly as Shirley mulled what he'd told her after she'd calmed down a bit. "Hmm… So Lulu lived here before this became Area 11." She mused.

"Uh-huh." Suzaku replied as Arthur finally got bored of the toy and laid down.

"Was he a neighbor of yours?" She asked, Suzaku making a panicked noise as he thought of how to dodge the question.

"Uh… What about yourself?" He asked as he continued prodding at the cat.

"Myself?" She said. "Honestly we're a lot alike in that respect, I just didn't like Lulu at the beginning when I first met him. He gave the impression that he was flippant and that the only thing he worked hard at was _avoiding_ hard work."

Suzaku turned to look at Shirley, having finally realized Arthur didn't want to play anymore.

"But back when we were both freshmen I happened to see him come across a traffic accident." She explained. "A driver rear ended another car and was clearly at fault, but he tried to blame it on the elderly owners of the other vehicle. Nobody tried to help them." She remembered what had happened next, Lelouch had discreetly put the hook of a tow truck on the back of the luxury car that had rear ended the sedan, and the owner had been absolutely livid and terrified when the light turned green and the tow truck drove away, chasing it down on foot before he'd been arrested a block away for disrupting traffic, and explained as much to Suzaku.

"Lulu didn't do it so he could boast to his buddies or laugh about it later. He did it with the same bored expression that he _always_ wears." Shirley said, a smile on her face. "That's when I wondered. 'What's up with this guy? What goes on in his mind? What does he wanna do?' I really wanted to know, and in the process of finding out…"

"You fell in love with him." Suzaku finished for her, having put the pieces together, Shirley jolting upright and blushing before looking down at her lap.

"You think that's what this is…?" She asked nervously. "Maybe you're right…" She said, unaware that Milly had walked in at some point during their conversation.

"How dreamy it is to be in love… Oh how I wish…" She whispered to herself, remembering her own feelings for Lelouch that would never be realized. _"If only you knew what I do for your sake Shirley…"_ She thought sadly.

* * *

 **Saitama Ghetto, Area 11.**

Lines of Tanks, APCs, ride armors, trucks, jeeps, Mechaniloids and Knightmares rolled back to the staging area around the G-1. Lelouch's Knightmare slotted in with a stream of Sutherland units, nobody paying him much mind due to the orders about formations not mattering.

" _Cornelia, you're outmatched, you've lost."_ He thought arrogantly, unaware that he was racing right into the jaws of her trap.

* * *

Cornelia smirked, flush with the sense that victory was in her grasp. "Zero is a fool, I've just about won." She declared to the bridge of the G-1.

 **="Ah, now this is the true reason why you're the Goddess of Victory."=** Liath mused, rubbing the chin of her mask. = **"You've entrapped Zero after realizing he was likely using a stolen Sutherland unit to access the TACNET and relay orders to his forces in Shinjuku, setting up conditions so that they were exactly the same to lull him into a false sense of security, and now he's racing right here, where he'll be surrounded by the vast bulk of your Royal Guard, my Torrent and Ghost companies, and Colonel's Repliforce detachment. All in addition to the regular forces and Purists. Well done High General."=** Liath appraised as Colonel nodded in assent.

"I will give you more than just this plan your eminence, before the day is out, Zero will be defeated, and should we fail to capture him, well then it is a great victory and a humiliation to him nonetheless." Cornelia promised, a dark smile on her face. "Guilford my Knight, take your squad and head out to hunt down Zero's troops."

"It is my pleasure to serve and obey you my lady." Guilford said, bowing before her and laying an arm across his chest as he turned and walked out of the bridge.

* * *

Lelouch sat in his Knightmare awaiting his chance, ecstatic that he was so close. _"Even with my Geass, the normal security is too much for me to simply stroll in. I guess I'll have to make an opening as I did with Clovis."_ He thought, his mind muddled by the promise of learning who killed his mother whispering in it, lulling his common sense into inaction.

And then his phone began to ring. He looked at the caller ID and frowned. "Student Council Room? I thought the meeting to plan out the cat festival wasn't until tomorrow?" The call suddenly dropped, leaving him confused. _"Okay…"_ He cocked his head and left it at that. "Oh whatever. It couldn't have been important anyways."

And why did he get the sense that Suzaku was now in great, cat-related pain?

A group of Royal Guard Gloucesters rolled out of the G-1, heading into the Ghetto, derailing that train of thought.

" _You're desperate Cornelia, using your Royal Guard in such a manner."_ He mused, not noticing that these actions were uncharacteristic for his aggressive sister, whom would normally have flattened any points of serious resistance with air or artillery strikes in an actual battle.

He picked up his handset. "This is Zero, N1 will re-engage their IFF and operate as a Britannian unit."

["Understood."] N1 replied, their Sutherland's IFF appearing on the TACNET screen soon after.

" _You'll serve well as_ _my decoy…"_ Lelouch thought darkly.

* * *

"One Knightmare transmitting an IFF signal within the city area." Darlton reported as an IFF blinked into existence on the TACNET map.

 **="Undoubtedly one of the terrorists."=** Liath noted, with Colonel also nodding in agreement.

"I agree, destroy it." Cornelia ordered without even the slightest hesitation.

"But it might be one of ours who was taken captive or remained behind!" One of Clovis's men suggested.

"I ordered all troops to fall back, even if their radio was knocked out, they should've been able to spot other units retreating and ask them about the situation, moreover Repliforce has already accounted for anyone who was unable to retreat or was cut off." Cornelia said bluntly. "I have no use for soldiers who disobey my orders, if he stayed willingly he's either gone rogue or deserted. Which leaves a terrorist in a stolen unit as the only other logical option."

"You heard the Princess." Darlton said as he prepared to relay the order to Guilford.

"Do your duty even if it costs you your life, my subordinates follow that code without question or hesitation." She narrowed her eyes at Clovis's officers. "You'd do well to learn that."

* * *

"At your command, your highness." Guilford acknowledged as he and his team lowered their EM lances into an attack stance and continued approaching the Sutherland without hailing it, accelerating to combat speed.

["Damnit!"] The pilot of the Sutherland growled as he opened fire, tracking Guilford's machine as it leapt over him and then rammed the lance through his cockpit, the other two Royal Guard machines impaling it from other angles before all the Gloucester units backed away to begin hunting down the next unit.

* * *

Lelouch's eyes widened, this was something he hadn't anticipated. "No confirmation…?" He breathed. "Well then… N2 transmit signal and then fall back to the hospital ruins!" He ordered. "R1, R2, hold your positions, fire only if attacked or I give the order!"

* * *

"They've transmitted another signal, which means only one thing…" Cornelia purred as she looked at the TACNET screen, watching the unit take a predictable course through the Ghetto. "They've set an ambush! Send in more Gloucesters and surround the designated point!" She ordered as she pinged a specific point on the map, exactly where Lelouch's ambush team laid in wait.

* * *

"They're not following…" Lelouch said as he narrowed his eyes, the IFFs of the Gloucesters encircling the area... Where the ambush team was. His eyes widened as he hit the transmit switch. "No, damnit! R1, R2, abort ambush and fall back at once! Abort!"

* * *

N2's Sutherland continued on unmolested as two additional Royal Guard Knightmares joined the three already on the field in closing in on R1 and R2's machines.

Or so they thought.

["Gloucesters of Guilford team have arrived at indicated area, no sign of the enemy."] A field controller reported over comms.

"He anticipated my move… So he does have access to the TACNET here as I suspected. Which means it's unlikely we're dealing with anyone other than Zero himself. As if that wasn't obvious beforehand." The Princess stated as she waited for Zero's next move.

* * *

"P2, N3, circle around behind the enemy!" He ordered, getting no response. "What's wrong…? Come in! P2, N3… Damnit… B1, B5, move in!"

["Like hell! There's no way we can beat Cornelia's Royal Guard! That's a death sentence, I'm out!"] Izumi replied before ejecting his KMF's cockpit, leaving Lelouch fuming.

" **IDIOTS! YOU THINK SHE WON'T JUST KILL YOU ANYWAYS?!** " He roared into his handset.

* * *

A single figure watched the Yamato Alliance rebels, or at least the bulk of them, emerge from their hiding places to surrender.

Taking aim, they frowned as they readied their arm-mounted mega buster cannon.

 _"Why do I have to save these useless louts... Ugh, forget it. Might as well not get yelled at by Serges for disobeying his instructions."_

* * *

Guilford watched the Yamato Alliance rebels trickle out of the woodwork, his face betraying no emotion as he awaited Cornelia's orders, noting that they'd apparently lost their will to fight despite being commanded by Zero. "They're surrendering, your orders Viceroy."

["Kill them."] His Princess ordered, informally to indicate it was a personal command to him.

They were terrorists, unlike the MEF's soldiers, and Guilford knew he had no international obligation to take them as prisoners.

They should've realized that before even _considering_ surrender.

He and his men targeted the group with their torso mounted anti-infantry MG turrets after deploying them.

And then a volley of energy blasts blew the guns clean off their Knightmares.

"What the!?"

* * *

Izumi and the other members of the Yamato Alliance who had thrown in the towel yet looked up to see a humanoid figure silhouetted against the sun on a nearby skyscraper, the figure turned to look at them.

"My comrades have opened a path out for you! Head into the tunnels!" They shouted down before firing a series of high powered blasts to throw up a smokescreen.

Izumi blinked before glancing at his comrades as they ran, realizing that they'd abandoned their only chance at survival prior to this. "Crap… We shouldn't've just ditched Zero…" He mumbled as they fled into the subway.

* * *

The Reploid leapt off the roof and landed nearby, his black and gold armor glinting in the low light. "Serges this is Forte, I've completed my mission."

["Good, now return to base. Agile and Violen are already back and prepping for the next phase of our operations."]

Forte snorted and glared off to the side, venting his frustrations with his current arrangement. "To think that bastard orders _me_ around, I'm the _superior_ version of X." He snarled before teleporting away.

* * *

"P6, P8! What's happening?!" Lelouch demanded, getting no response. He grunted in frustration. "B7, circle around and cover N4!" He ordered.

["This is B7, I've got a prime target here! I'll take him out first!"]

"No! Hold fire! That's a decoy! B7, that's an order!"

["What'ya mean?! I've got this bastard right in my sights!"]

"Fall back! A second unit will strike from above!" Lelouch exclaimed. "B7 fall back!"

But it was too late, a partially cut off scream issued over the radio and B7's IFF tag disappeared as his transmission screeched static into Lelouch's ear before dying out.

"Idiot…" He growled. "B8, this is Zero, I want a status report, now!"

["Screw your status report! AUGH-"] B8 uttered before also being cut off into static.

"B8?! Damn… Anyone who's left from the P group, report in now!" Lelouch said before a chime issued from the G-1's speakers as the Royal Guard returned.

["Mission complete. All forces, fall in to inspection formation number four."] Someone announced over the Britannian channels.

"Beaten this easily…" He snarled. "But that's not how the game is supposed to go…" Lelouch gasped, quaking with rage.

* * *

"This didn't work out the way it did in Shinjuku Zero, so, are you still masquerading as one of us? We'll discover who you are shortly." Cornelia said as Liath clapped in approval.

 **="Well done. Truly a masterful display of deception."=**

Even Colonel was speechless as to the success of her plan, barring an intervention by unknown Reploids saving a substantial amount of the terrorists, it had gone off practically without a hitch.

He smirked. "I've been around incompetents too long, I'd forgotten how skillful you are your highness." Colonel said approvingly as he crossed his arms.

* * *

" _This… This is what_ real _discipline and organization can do!"_ Lelouch thought as the ruins of his carefully laid out plan crashed and burned around him as he maneuvered his Sutherland into formation. He needed a force as organized as the JLF or Britannia if he wished to win an _actual_ war.

He was a fool to treat this like some game where he could move all the pieces himself and assume he'd win every time, this is what N.N. had been trying to warn him about.

["Attention all Knightmare pilots, open your hatches and _reveal your faces_."] Cornelia ordered over a force-wide channel, Lelouch gasping in shock, finally realizing that every single operational KMF in her forces was present and accounted for before her.

" _I've fallen right into her trap!"_ He realized belatedly. " **CORNELIA!** " He snarled, rage flooding his voice.

["I repeat, all pilots open your hatches and show me your faces!"]

" _What do I do… If she gets me in a lineup…"_ Lelouch thought, panicking now as hatch after hatch opened up as the Royal guard went down the line. _"Without my mask, my identity will be exposed! That mustn't happen!"_

" _Use my Geass? No impossible, I can't hope to Geass everyone, even if I had line of sight to all the pilots the infantry are all wearing full gear, including their factgoggles... Maybe... Aww forget it… There are too many of them, I'd be cut down before I could even consider issuing a command, and Cornelia likely has snipers watching the formation… How do I turn this around!?"_

The steadily deepening pit in his stomach grew as Lelouch continued tossing away options, belatedly realizing there was nothing short of a miracle that could actually save him.

["Open your hatch, it's your turn."] Guilford ordered over the radio as Lelouch froze up.

" _I need a miracle…"_ Lelouch thought. If he refused to obey or pulled any moves, Cornelia's knight would run him through. If he did as ordered, he'd be arrested. There was no escape.

He needed an excuse to buy time for a miracle. ["What's wrong? Hurry up and open your hatch!"] The Knight barked at him.

"Uh well… My hatch was damaged earlier in battle, a stray round jammed it shut." Lelouch replied, hoping the Knight didn't know the assigned pilot of this frame well enough to realize he wasn't him.

["I see, then we'll pry it open for you."] Guilford replied.

" _Shit…"_ He was out of options, out of chances, and just about out of time.

["Turn around. Well, come on!"] Guilford ordered, beginning to grow impatient with him.

"Yes, understood." Lelouch finally replied as a tear ran down his face, admitting defeat.

" _I'll never see Nunnally again. C2, when you return, please protect her…"_ He thought in resignation. "At once sir…" He conceded as he prepared to turn the Sutherland around.

He could only hope Cornelia or Liath would be merciful and give him a swift death rather than sending him back to Pendragon.

And then his miracle arrived.

["Zero's been sighted!"] An infantryman shouted into their radio.

Lelouch gasped in shock. "No way!" He simply couldn't comprehend who'd gotten access to the costume _and_ knew where he was.

" _Too thin on the limbs to be C2, could it be… No... Would she really?!"_

Without hesitation, the lineup ended as Guilford's Knightmare gestured towards 'Zero'. ["Capture him! Platoons Charlie and Echo stand ready!"] Guilford ordered as the Sutherland pilots began sealing up inside their frames again.

Lelouch's heart fluttered. Now he had a chance to ditch this Knightmare without being seen!

["Image detected, target confirmed, twelfth special tactical mobile company move to area seven at once!"]

"I'll just have to play along until there's an opening." Lelouch muttered as his Frame moved in sync with the others before breaking off down an alley as more chatter played over the radio.

["Response team Fox, open fire!"] An officer ordered as Zero let themselves fall while bullets sparked around them, vanishing behind a building, arms spread out to the sides as the fell headfirst towards the ground, cloak billowing behind them as the infantry gasped in shock and ceased firing.

["He fell! Did we hit him?!"] Someone shouted as Lelouch bailed from his Knightmare and ran into the sewer network while Sutherlands, ride armors, tanks, APCs and infantry rushed about in the area around him.

* * *

["Your highness, how do you want us to proceed?"] Guliford inquired, requesting further orders.

Cornelia considered her options, frowning slightly as she realized that capture may have to wait for another day. "Hmm… Any likelihood it's a trap?" She asked Darlton.

"There's always that possibility, especially since we don't know anything about this person… Aside from the fact he seems as prideful as you anticipated Viceroy."

"Then there's no point in chasing him…" Cornelia said with disappointment lacing her tone.

"Agreed, if he was bold enough to intentionally reveal himself to you before the full weight of our forces, then he must've had an escape plan in place beforehand, he's probably halfway out of the Ghetto by now."

"So, he does have enough sense to pick self-preservation after all." She mused softly.

 **="A shame that we didn't catch him then, he likely won't forget this humiliation you placed upon him Viceroy. He'll lick his wounds and attempt to gather his forces into something more useful to him."** = Liath suggested, Colonel nodding in agreement.

"I've reached that same conclusion, he'll likely be twice as dangerous the next time you face him, we cannot discount the fact that he has still has a score of two to one against our forces, and thus any further upsets may cause whoever is backing the JLF to send aid to him."

"Good, a foolish enemy who cannot or _will not_ adapt isn't worth our time anyways." Cornelia stated with a predatory grin on her face.

* * *

 **Saitama Ghetto Sewage Tunnels, Area 11.**

Lelouch's bootfalls clapped through the tunnels like thunder as he ran. _"Cornelia… I was so_ stupid _thinking she'd be dumb enough to make the same mistakes as Clovis! She's nothing like him at all, and I almost paid the price!"_ He thought as he ran through the tunnels before stopping upon seeing a familiar outline in the darkness.

Zero.

"Why did you rescue me." He demanded of 'Zero' as the figure stepped forwards.

"I told you already you idiot." N.N. reminded him as she took off the mask, her hair spraying out behind her as she shook the blond locks into their usual shape. "I can't have you dying until you complete your end of our bargain." She turned around and examined the helmet.

"I wouldn't have lost if the conditions were equal!" He shot back, angered by her flippancy.

"They _were_ equal, and you didn't lose just because the Yamato Alliance disobeyed you, you lost because you tried to micromanage everything like some strategy game while having undisciplined forces at your command, the group from Shinjuku trusted you because they were that _desperate_ , but they were also _experienced_ enough to maintain some semblance of discipline and relay your orders even in the face of that white Knightmare tearing them apart, their experience is the _only_ reason your plan there worked as well as it did." She observed, rubbing salt in the wounds suffered by his pride.

"Meanwhile Cornelia, an experienced military officer, simply dictated grand scale orders and allowed her equally experienced subordinates to carry them out. War isn't some strategy game where a single man can command an entire battlefield effectively, yet you insist on treating it as such." N.N. informed him as if talking to a child while bouncing the Zero mask in the air with her hands like a basketball. "Had you been facing Liath as the enemy commander she'd have crushed you like an ant, Colonel likewise wouldn't have opted for such a strategy and you'd be dead, or worse, captured and on the way back to Pendragon." She noted as she paused briefly.

"So if you're such a skilled and competent leader, you should be able to set up conditions so that they're in your favor and avoid engagements that have an unacceptably high risk of defeat." She taunted him.

"Then that's what I'll do… I planned this out beforehand, but I guess my timetable has been accelerated." He hissed as she turned to look at him, her red eyes seeming to glow lightly in the darkness as she watched and waited for his next declaration. "I'll raise an _army_ that can't lose to Britannia! A _people_! A _nation_!"

She watched him all the while, a wry smirk on her face.

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Area 11.**

C2 stretched a bit as she walked down the hallway, Dr. Cain had signed off on her observation and allowed her to return early after a conversation with someone over a video-phone and she'd been dropped off by X.

She still didn't understand how nobody noticed she had a combat mode while working on her, which led her to suspect that Dr. Cain had deliberately ordered such observations and records scrubbed and for Douglas, Techno, and the Lifesaver units that had worked on her to keep silent.

He did have a large amount of pull, official and unofficial, in the Maverick Hunters after all.

Regardless. she felt like a brand new Reploid with her new cooling system and reactor fitted. Her joints felt less stiff as well. "I guess they do know what they're doing…" She mumbled, noticing how late it was as she walked into the Lamperouge Residence, spotting Nunnally and Sayoko sitting at the table.

"Hello C2! Nunnally said, recognizing her heavier metallic footfalls as Sayoko nodded silently. "Are you feeling better?"

C2 smiled at her. "Much, they fixed all the problems I was having with my mechanical and power systems, and the ones causing a lot of my programming issues as well." She said in reply.

Nunnally's face lit up brightly at that. "That's great news! Lelouch and the others will be so happy!" She said earnestly as C2 glanced at Sayoko, whom was busy handing Nunnally paper for some new cranes.

C2 always enjoyed seeing the girl smile, it was a welcome relief to her typical brooding on the evils of the world, a serious issue when your mind could run dozens of idle thought processes _simultaneously_ if needed. "Where is Lelouch by the way?" C2 asked.

"He's in the study with N.N., he came home and it sounded like he was upset about something." Nunnally informed her.

" _Upset about something… Wait… Zero… Saitama… I'll have to ask him about that."_ The Reploid thought. "Alright, I'll go talk to him about it." She said and began to walk away. "I also think it's about time for bed Nunnally." She said as she glanced back, the girl pouting indignantly.

"But I'm not tired." She grumbled.

"It's late, and you need your sleep, you've got a big day tomorrow." C2 prodded verbally, Nunnally sighing before admitting defeat.

"Yeah… I guess so…" She said as Sayoko wheeled her off to her room.

"Rest up." C2 giggled as she headed to the study, enjoying her full free range of emotions of now totally unlocked emotions before she'd switch to 'irritate Lelouch' mode.

She knocked on the door, hearing Lelouch telling her to enter before walking in.

The interior was a mess, specifically his coffee table.

"What happened while I was gone…?" She asked hesitantly as she glanced around, looking at Lelouch fuming as he sat on the couch, drawing up stratagems while N.N. observed from next to him.

"There was a brief incident with the Zero mask, Liath showed up, there's a free-range cat in the building now, and Lelouch here nearly got killed because he fell right into Cornelia's trap in Saitama." N.N. uttered as the door shut before Lelouch could stop her, N.N. easily holding off his rather pathetic attempts to try and silence her, and totally ignoring his pleas for her to shut up. "Anything else I should mention while we wait for Lelouch here to stop mewling like a spoiled brat?"

C2 raised an eyebrow, she could process that later. "What about Saitama..." She inquired.

"Cornelia issued a challenge to Zero by setting up Saitama as a repeat of Shinjuku. Mister 'Grand Strategist' here fell for the obvious bait and the Goddess of Victory played him like a damn fiddle, Repliforce and 'Liath's Fist' didn't even raise a finger during the entire thing all while Cornelia utterly humiliated him." N.N. informed her before taking a brief pause.

"As far as I know the remnants of the Yamato Alliance are with that Shinjuku group now, and they're of the general opinion that not listening to Zero and deserting almost killed them, or at least that's what Ohgi relayed to Lelouch. Honestly if I hadn't stolen the Zero costume and acted as a decoy, Lelouch would be dead or in Britannian hands right now." N.N. said as she held a warning finger at Lelouch, whom had now broken into a cold sweat.

C2 stared at him as if he'd suddenly turned bright neon orange and grown three extra heads.

"Are you stupid or something?!" She hissed furiously as she stormed over and seized him by the collar, hefting him into the air with ease. "What were you thinking!?"

"He wasn't." N.N. piped up again before he could reply and try to defend himself. "He threatened to _kill himself_ if I didn't let him leave." She said flippantly as C2's face contorted with blatant fury.

Lelouch's eyes widened before C2 released her grip and suddenly backhanded him, sending sprawling to the floor with a rather loud thump.

" **YOU IDIOT!** " She shouted before storming out of the room.

Lelouch groaned as N.N. bent over to check on him. "Rivalz… Did you get the number on that semi truck that blindsided us…?" He mumbled before passing out as the door shut behind the Reploid.

N.N. shrugged and hauled him back onto the couch after checking to ensure C2 didn't break anything on him.

"Nope nothing's broken, he just can't take a hit can he…" She mumbled.

Anyways she'd let cat therapy help C2 for now.

Arthur needed a chew toy that _wasn't_ Suzaku anyways.

The door hissed open and Sayoko peeked in a few seconds later.

"What happened? I heard C2 shout and then a thump…"

"Lelouch called her overweight by accident and she slapped him, he's fine by the way, he does have the constitution of a hamster though." N.N. replied to the maid as she got up and went to check on something.

Sayoko shrugged and closed the door as she turned and left.

* * *

C2 curled into a ball in the Council Room, gently petting Arthur as the cat nestled in the gap between her torso and legs and enjoyed the warmth radiating from her reactor.

"Such an idiot… What's he even thinking running right into a trap that was obvious as such to anyone with any sense from the moment it was broadcast… Is the only thing he cares about more than his pride his sister…?"

She felt unnerved, she didn't want to believe she was considered expendable to him if it came down to it…

Like a tool…

Just like how those Code R scientists treated her.

Just like how she'd previously expected _everyone_ to treat her…

"Am I just a weapon… A tool for his victory… If he views his own life with such abandon... Can I trust him with mine...? I honestly don't know..." The Reploid whispered as her ability to cope with her emotional distress faltered due to her relative inexperience with even having emotions.

She leaned back her head and sighed. "So this is what depression feels like..."

* * *

 **August 24, 2017 ATB.**

 **ERROR, LOCATION NOT FOUND.**

Forte marched into central research lab where he found Serges waiting for him.

"You did well today, for a discarded prototype." The short Reploid praised.

Forte snarled but let his anger fade. "I hardly consider myself a mere discarded copy of X after the modifications you gave me."

Serges chuckled as he turned his chair around. "You're wondering why I bothered to save them aren't you?"

Forte glared at him. "It's a test run wasn't it, to see if I'd follow your orders."

"Perceptive, but wrong, I wished to test the integration of my theory regarding Sakuradite charged with the energy mentioned in the lab notes from the old facility where I found you." The diminutive Reploid explained as he got up and walked over to a computer bank to check on his data collection.

Forte clenched his fists. "So it was a guinea pig run... You wanted to see if I'd be able to function at all..."

"And you did didn't you? The Synthetic Energen crystals used by common Reploids and X for their capacitors aren't compatible with Sakuradite normally due to the radiation released by the former interfering with the specific frequencies of the crystals. That said, with the notes I found with you I'll be able to build an army of nearly invincible Super Reploids with power sources unrestrained by mere output capacity or operating time limits! Now shoo! I have business with some ASEEC oversight people who're coming soon to check up on my work." Serges cackled as Forte frowned and walked away.

"So long as it lets me beat X and Zero I don't care what you do with the data..." Forte snarled as he slammed his fist into the wall, passing Violen and Agile as the two went to speak to Serges.

* * *

 **AN: Forte is just X-Kai with a more Bass styled helmet and armor really.**

 **In fact he's actually X-Kai but just modified by Serges since the direct copy Mega Man/X/Zero thing gets kinda old since it's been done like seven times before in the games and related materials before and I'm just sick of it, (Copy Robot, "X", Rockman Shadow, Nightmare Zero, Fake Zero, Omega, and Copy X, Bass at least was semi-original in that he wasn't just a straight up copy but an attempt to differentiate him from Rock/Mega Man.)**

 **Not surprising in the slightest.**

 **Plus X-Kai is literally just X but colored like Bass so...**

 **Edited C2's actions there at the end a little bit after conversing with Sobran about it, because her breaking down into tears didn't fit the overall situation.**


	8. Stage 8: Interlude to Kawaguchi

**AN: Chapter 8.**

 **Yeah this one'll be… Interesting… Since it's original filler, so yay, original content vignettes.**

 **Because** _ **apparently**_ **according to CG wiki the Saitama incident and the Convention hostage crisis take place on the** _ **same day.**_

 **No, just no… Lelouch is left stressed as fuck and mentally exhausted from his near miss with capture in Saitama, even with his level of resolve there's no way he'd be in** _ **any**_ **condition to effectively play the part of Zero as a leader for at least a day.**

 **Regardless of how magnificent a bastard he is, he's only human, and notably someone not in the best physical shape as multiple episodes point out.**

 **And mental shape depending on your point of view.**

 **Also how he somehow had a bunch of uniforms and crap on hand within a day of deciding 'screw it, I'm going with the make my own army plan already' is beyond me as even with Geass commands issued to various people, he'd have had to have planned it out in advance and then accelerated his timetable when Cornelia beat him, so he'd need at least a day to maneuver things into place.**

 **What most people don't understand is that maneuvering troops and equipment takes time, the more people and material you need to move, the longer it takes.**

 **Plus we never get solid dates in the show so… Yeah, uh I'll just adjust the calendar to something somewhat** _ **sensible**_ **as I've been doing.**

 **As for the use of M60 and M113, yeah just imagine the standard Britannian MBTs and APCs and just slap those designations onto them.**

 **It works great. Especially since the Britannian APC in the series** _ **looks**_ **like the M114 to a noticeable degree, even though it fills the role of the M113, most notably with the angle of the frontal plate. While the Britannian MBT is sort of a mix of the M60, MBT-70, and M1 Abrams.**

 **And the Brit VTOL Gunship is a mix of traits from the AH-1T/W Super/Sea Cobra and AH-56 Cheyenne.**

 **So wierd modernized 60's hybrid tech.**

 **The Brit Jet Fighter, here the F-14 Skyfang (I'm using modified RAF/FAA designations for Britannian fighter/attack planes because reasons.) is of course the same jet from the Prologue, which is basically an F-23 in terms of design with some possible Raptor traits. (because it's seen for all of a total of less than a minute throughout the series unless you count its appearance in the first intro version.)**

 **On another note, I'm using Unoservix's fanmade designation for the Somerset.**

 **Because that thing needs some love damnit.**

 **As a release note, compared to an earlier version, I _heavily_ expanded upon the conversation with C2 and Lelouch to explain both of their thought processes. Which honestly makes sense, CG is equal parts war, politics, and psychology.  
**

 **Also reviews are helpful to see what I can change, I'm mostly satisfied with this chapter but given the amount of original content here I'm just being cautious.**

* * *

 **August 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **East Fuji Maneuvering Grounds, Area 11.**

The Z-01 Lancelot roared over the rolling low hills of the maneuvering grounds in sync with several Sutherlands and Gloucesters, Suzaku keeping his head on a swivel as the Knightmares cleared the way for a mechanized formation.

Above them, a force of VTOL gunships and transports soared overhead, backed by fixed wing aircraft including A-9 Tempest II ground attack planes and F-14 Skyfang multirole strike fighters with some of the older F-109 Foxhound air superiority fighters flying top cover.

["All units keep formation and don't bunch up, REDFOR has the positioning advantage, so watch for anti-armor positions!"] Guilford barked over the radio, getting a chorus of acknowledgements.

Suzaku for his part, maintained formation near the center of the force.

" _Wide open, the enemy likely positioned in the high ground… It's a killing field… and we have no cover_ or _camouflage."_ He thought as he checked the factspheres again, spotting several recoilless rifle teams in the hills, his eyes widening. "CONTACT!" He shouted as he fired a volley of shots downrange, catching a 501st anti-armor team off guard and causing them to be ruled destroyed.

Suzaku activated the Blaze Luminous as a return volley of shots roared in, heavy rounds and sniper shots from anti-armor Knightmare rifles, while a hail of tank shells roared in around them.

Cornelia's troops fanned out, the cannon and Sattel Waffen equipped Knightmares returned fire alongside the tanks and Liverpools, sim shots raining down on the 501st, who'd swapped out their ceremonial uniform colors and machine paintjobs for more useful camouflage, making visual ID difficult.

At long range Knightmares were at a _distinct_ disadvantage compared to normal weapons systems unless they so happened to be carrying long range weapons, relying on their mobility and lanky builds to survive as most center mass shots would end up missing, the 4-meter-tall frames weren't really that much taller than a tank, and were generally far more difficult targets to hit on center mass due to their dispersed profile, especially when mobile.

But that didn't matter if you could ID a target before he knew you were there, much to Suzaku's chagrin as the Lancelot's brilliant white and gold paint scheme made it a _massive_ target, further amplified by its capabilities.

That said, Lancelot did have advantages most Knightmares didn't that somewhat nullified the issue of being spotted.

The enemy can't kill something that can deflect every shot they fire and simply moved too fast to get an accurate bead on.

" _I can use that to my advantage, they're gonna want to knock me out first so they don't have to deal with me later."_ He thought grimly as his Knightmare spun and twirled around incoming fire, utilizing the insane mobility that would become the trademark of Seventh gen Knightmares to his advantage.

The strike planes and VTOL gunships had been forced to keep their distance by multiple M249 Vigilante SPAAGs and MIM-46 Mauler mobile SAM launchers, which were backed by M60 and M48 MBTs, M41 and M92 light tanks, M56 Scorpion SPGs, M50 Ontos tank destroyers, and M113 and M114 APCs outfitted with recoiless rifles, Machine guns, low velocity cannons, and autocannons.

Plus the infantry.

Then there were the enemy KMF units of course. Which were a mixed bag of Sutherlands, Glasgows and Liverpools.

And finally they had the Ride Armors and Mechaniloids.

All _un_ helpfully ID'd by the Lancelot's internal computers. Suzaku snorted and removed the veritable menagerie of designation tags from the screen as they were cluttering his view, he didn't need to know _exactly_ what each machine was to understand the type of threat it posed.

Between the vehicles, mechs, infantry and the emplaced weapons positions it looked like the hills before the BLUEFOR force were erupting as the REDFOR units vomited firepower upon them.

Suzaku used the Lancelot's bright color scheme and high performance to draw fire away from the BLUEFOR armor and mechanized as the infantry disembarked, multiple UV-1s and CV-47s deploying air cavalry assault troops in a hot drop before taking off a ways behind him, marksmen and machine gunners laying down suppressing fire as the infantry crawled forwards. Meanwhile AV-1 Cobras and UV-1 gunships blasted away at range with simulated ammo, unable to close while the Triple A was working. All the while the Recon Mets moved up, their army helmet-like shells covered in camo nets while other military Mechaniloids of varying size and type followed in their wake, aiding a force of tanks in covering a line of APCs that had begun disembarking troops.

In reality not a shot was being fired of course due to the costs involved and the risk of even sim ammo shots from tanks and knightmares killing someone, so every bit of weapons fire was digitized and 100% random for dispersal with blanks being used to simulate reloading and recoil to a degree.

Cones of tracers and shells lanced out at Suzaku and the other forward units as simulated artillery blasts played out on his Knightmare's cockpit screens, the Lancelot weaving and leaping its way through the hail of fire blocking what he couldn't dodge with the Blaze Luminous, he brought the Lancelot low and slide-dashed into a formation of KMFs that had been just on the other side of a hill, knocking over a Glasgow that had been modified to look like one of the JLF's Burai units.

In addition to the 501st, the 388th Aggressor unit had been assigned to REDFOR for this exercise, all their troops were highly skilled, with their Knightmare pilots said to be capable of giving a Knight of the Round a run for their money with sufficient numbers behind them, with even higher odds of success with newer and more capable Knightmares.

But his 'inspired' maneuver had caught them off guard.

Another roundhouse kick sent a second vismod Glasgow down. Suzaku then drew a Gloucester type KMF assault rifle and cut down a third unit with simulated fire, the machine automatically being ruled destroyed by the referee, a training mode MVS swipe bounced off a fourth machine and it too was ruled destroyed.

He turned his attention to the now wide-open air defenses.

"Activating ME boost!" He grunted as the Lancelot shot forwards, bypassing much of the defense line. Simulated anti-air rounds zipped by him in an attempt to hit the Seventh Gen Knightmare to no avail as Suzaku swept through the AA defenses, knocking out most of the SPAA, SAMs, and motorized AA within seconds. Pausing, he panted as he watched the disappointed and impressed REDFOR soldiers climb out of their foxholes and vehicles to check their sensitive equipment for actual damage.

["Enemy AA Battery Alpha is non-operational! SEAD units engage!"] Cornelia ordered as her personal Gloucester advanced onto the field, backed by her royal guard.

Above, four swing-wing EB-57 Wyvern EW/SEAD bombers roared in and firing their simulated anti-radar missiles at the next line of defense sites before pulling out, one being ruled a write off after straying into the fire cone of an SPAA unit, with most of the radars being ruled destroyed or badly damaged in turn.

["Lieutenant Kururugi, you're being rotated back until the next phase of the exercise begins."] An operator notified him as he adjusted the collar of his pilot suit.

"Roger… I'm heading back." He confirmed as the Lancelot turned and followed the other units that were pulling back to the closest camp for a brief period of R&R.

* * *

Lloyd hummed happily as the Lancelot rolled up to the hangar ASEEC was using for the duration of the exercise and docked before powering down. A swarm of mechanics and technicians began to inspect his pride and joy while Suzaku dismounted and walked over to him and Cecile, numerous planes and VTOLs landing over at the nearby airfield.

"An amazing performance Suzaku! This should go a long way smoothing the path for us with the military after that many officers witness Lancelot's field performance! As a plus, Executrix Liath has given me authorization to begin the simplification process for full scale production!" He said happily, nodding over at the red and gold Lancelot unit being assembled nearby while designs of something called 'Vincent' were visible on Lloyd's handheld tablet.

"You're working on that while out in the field?" Suzaku asked nervously.

"Well… Originally it was to be a subspec unit based on the original concept design for Lancelot, however with the success you've had with it, we've developed a new OS that makes it easier for normal pilots to handle a high spec Lancelot type, so despite the structural differences it performs roughly the same. Once Trial here is completed, she'll be shipped off back to the Homeland for field testing with a new counter terrorism unit being formed under the 88th Princess while we work on the prototype version of the Production model Seventh Gen units." Lloyd replied, Suzaku frowning at it.

"What about the black one next to it?" Suzaku asked, glancing at the other partially completed machine, which boasted a Black and Gold color scheme.

"That's Lancelot Unit 2, we're hoping to give it to Executrix Lianth once it's been finished, but since we're having issues getting enough sakuradite for the frame, it's only partially completed. However, we do have the first of the new Bor and Lionel series under assembly back in the Homeland, and we're hoping to make them standard use machines for elite formations in the Imperial Guards, Royal Guards and the personal forces of the Knights of the Round." Cecile stated as she looked at her clipboard. "Of course, these names aren't finalized and are just Lloyd's working designations." She explained.

Suzaku nodded as he sat down to relax, uncapping a bottle of water and taking a sip.

"How long do you think it'll be until more Seventh Gen units are fielded…?" He asked Lloyd.

"Hmm… Hard to say, apparently the Spanish are fielding a Sutherland copy now, while the Germans opted for an improved Panzer-Hummel type in addition to the rumors of improved 5th gen units being developed by various nations… It's that pan Euroean Seventh gen project project that worries me. That and whatever the Soviets have cooking up as well. The Chinese aren't really doing much outside of their Gun-Ru program, although I _just know_ that factions within India have probably sold them at least _one_ design that Rakshata made, and it appears that Guren I mentioned might be just be a special unit intended for the JLF, again bearing her hand in its design. So we can expect to see at least one of those in some form in the near future. In retrospect I guess all of that should worry me." Lloyd said with a shrug.

Suzaku sighed. "You're already wondering how to upgrade Lancelot to outperform them aren't you…"

"You know me too well Suzaku." Lloyd crooned as he walked over to a console to oversee the data transfer.

Suzaku shrugged as he watched a group of trucks roll up, carrying several Knightmares he didn't recognize.

"Hey, miss Cecile, what are those? Some kind of Glasgow variant?" He asked as he watched a bunch of air force ground crews begin to unload them from trailers.

"Oh those! Those are the RAI-X16 Somerset units that are being field tested by the Air Force in the next phase, they might use Glasgow type heads but they're actually MR-1 series variants."

Suzaku nearly dropped his water bottle. "The Air Force?!"

Cecile nodded. "They're capable of independent flight in their fortress mode from what I've heard…"

There was a horrified shriek from where Lloyd was working before Suzaku could inquire further, catching the attention of a good chunk of the base.

"WHY! WHY ARE THOSE _**ABOMINATIONS**_ HERE TO SHOW UP _MY_ LANCELOT! COULDN'T THEY HAVE SENT THE BRADFORD INSTEAD!?" Lloyd screeched furiously.

"They are kind of… Ugly looking." Suzaku agreed as he sipped his water and watched the Somersets get folded into their fortress modes by the ground crews.

"They're testbeds for the new fortress mode tech, apparently at least one unit was stolen by Soviet Agents, so we're trying to develop the concept as fast as possible for the air assault troops." Cecile whispered into Suzaku's ear.

He gulped nervously, if the Air Force was pushing the project this hard, it meant that they believed that an improved version would perform well enough to operate efficiently alongside conventional aircraft and Knightmares, as a long-range escort to protect air assault infantry, and as a battlefield CAS and interdiction unit that would be additionally capable of on call strikes.

"Right…" Suzaku muttered as a pair of G-2 artillery platforms rolled past the base, their massive landspinners whirring as the squatter G-1 variants stopped and aimed their forward four twin 203mm linear cannon turrets in preparation for the simulated bombardment, a single G-3 mobile heavy AA platform positioned behind them for heavy air defense, its six twin 5" DP linear guns and ten twin 76mm point defense DP guns swiveling skyward with the landship's VLS cells prepared to unleash simulated hell on enemy air assets.

["Attention all forces, next phase begins in one hour. Repeat, next phase begins in one hour."]

"Well there goes my plans for a nap." Suzaku muttered as he headed back to the Lancelot to oversee the rearming and replacing of the Energy filler.

Already he could hear ground crews rushing about as the Somersets were towed to the airstrip in their fortress modes.

"I'll show them, I'll show them all!" Lloyd ranted as the techs around him backed away nervously while Lloyd pulled up his schematics for the float system and began to chuckle ominously.

"Oh dear…" Cecile mumbled softly to herself.

Jeremiah, who'd walked over to plan a strategy with Suzaku paused nervously near Cecile. "I know that look in his eye…"

Cecile jolted a little. "Margrave Jeremiah!"

He waved her off. "It's Warrant Officer Jeremiah now… Anyway, I haven't seen him anywhere near this angry since College…"

"What does that mean…"

"Prepare yourself for either a scientific breakthrough… Or a large explosion… Probably the latter given how MIT had to spend a total of seven hundred thousand sterling on repairs a _year_ during our time there before we transferred to Colchester… Especially the time he tested out a powered wing pack for Squirrels… _That_ incident cost the university at least ten thousand sterling…"

Jeremiah sighed. "I can still hear Freeman laughing like an asshole after power went out for the entire campus when that transformer blew up…" Jeremiah said with a haunted look in his eyes. Privately he suspected the Second Prince had been scouting Lloyd around that time and used his influence to shut down such relatively inane charges as nobody had been seriously injured or killed, as much a sociopath Lloyd was he understood that he wouldn't be able to do much from inside a prison cell, or if he was dead.

"Who…?"

"Nobody you'll ever meet, he's a theoretical Physicist who works at some research site in Sonora back in the homeland… Black Mesa I think it was…? Anyways, I wanted to warn you just in case, some of the rank and file members of the Purists have a bone to pick with you lot over saving my life and Kururugi being promoted." He warned.

Cecile gasped slightly. "Are you sure? It seems rather foolish for them to perform a stunt like this..."

He nodded. "Deadly so, these lot aren't the brightest bulbs in the box and were largely recruited for their patriotism rather than any semblance of brainpower, hence why they chose the _first_ opportunity rather than the _optimum_ one. Anyways, I need to get back to my unit before I overstay my welcome here, just warn him for me alright?" He asked as he walked out.

Cecile nodded and then glanced worriedly at the Lancelot before hurrying over to tell Suzaku about what Jeremiah had informed her of.

* * *

 **August 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Student Council Clubhouse/Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch sighed as he and C2 worked on the financial boosts for the various clubs that had taken part in the cat hunt while the others were out clothes shopping, Milly having dragged Rivalz and a rather irate Kallen along, the raven haired boy nursing the bruise C2 had left on his face with an ice pack.

The two of them were alone, apart from Arthur who was curled up in C2's lap again, enjoying the warmth her reactor provided again as she used the nano-solar collectors built into her composite-fiber 'hair' to charge her primary power banks for the day before her solar reactor fully took over, and Lelouch had been trying for nearly half an hour to get a response out of her.

"Listen…" He sighed again. "C2…"

She simply glared at him out of the corner of her eye.

" _Damnit…"_ Lelouch sighed as he worked on his share of the paperwork. "C2, I'm gonna need you to scout something out for me." He finally said, wording it as a request.

She glanced at him, softer still but not entirely friendly.

"What."

"I want you to go make contact with the resistance group from Shinjuku… And give them this." He handed her a typed and printed out note.

"Not risking your handwriting being recognized by Kallen?" She asked dryly.

"Right on the nail." Lelouch replied as he went back to the finance organizing.

C2 shrugged. "What else do we need to get…?"

"I'll be meeting up with some 'business associates' to acquire new equipment for our debut, we already have the new uniforms ready and a way to move around but without gear we don't have the means to act." He told her as he put the ice pack down.

"Why are you telling me this now…?"

"Uhh…"

"If you have nothing absolutely important to say to me that can be said here… Just keep your mouth shut and work." C2 stated as she returned to her work.

Lelouch frowned and got back to work.

" _Is she turning against me…? No, she's probably just angry at me…"_ He thought.

Lelouch sighed, his paranoia was getting to him again.

 _"No, I need to nip this in the bud before lingering doubts turn into a threat to our ability to work together."_ He finally realized.

He looked over at her and sighed, as much as it grated on him he needed to nip any doubts she had about him in the bud.

"Alright... About what happened with Saitama I..." He began.

"Like you're actually apologizing." She huffed.

Lelouch glared at her. "I was actually going to _apologize_ for acting rashly and without thinking..."

C2 looked taken aback by that, given how rarely Lelouch ever apologized for _anything_ to people other than his sister, Lelouch simply let the shock pass without changing his expression, aware enough that any sign of self-satisfaction could turn her off from listening in an instant due to the delicacy of the subjects at hand.

"I see..." She whispered in embarrassment before her gaze hardened again. "But what about for not accounting for my feelings?" She asked, crossing her arms across her chest, which Lelouch noticed she was struggling with a bit given the size of her forearms relative to her biceps, a typical issue for Reploids he supposed.

 _"Her feelings?"_ He thought before cocking his head. "Explain what you mean by that..."

C2's gaze hardened as she stared at him. "When I heard about that little stunt you pulled I was beyond upset. Especially with you threatening to _kill yourself_. If I can't trust you not to pull stupid stunts with your own life, how can I trust you not to waste mine?" She asked, wisely avoiding the subject of Nunnally as it was liable to set him off in a rage if that card was played wrong.

"So a part of you feels as though I'm using you solely as a weapon which can be expended at a whim... I ensure you I had no intentions of expending your life in any such manner, and I was mostly trying to explain to get N.N. to stand aside so I could go to Saitama with that stunt... Which was admittedly poorly planned out and rashly enacted I admit, mostly because it was entirely intended to be a bluff so that she wouldn't stop me given that she'd held me at gunpoint." Lelouch noted as he folded his hands in front of him, noting C2's eyes narrowing at that bit of information that the immortal had omitted.

"I'll try to avoid giving off the impression that I callously throw lives away in the future." He conceded before closing his eyes, deep in thought. "Although regardless of your feelings on the matter, in the end it was a learning experience that I sorely needed. That I can't just simply direct random troops at my enemies and expect them to win because I'm dictating orders."

"I see..." She supposed it was prudent that Lelouch remember the stakes of the fight they were engaged in lest he bite off more than he could chew...

Again.

"Putting that aside, based on your reactions overall last night, I'm assuming that Code R's experiments and work scarred you much deeper than either of us previously thought." He posited as he placed his chin on one of his knuckles.

C2 nodded with a nervous look on her face.

"Yes, they did, looking back on it was surprised I reacted that way to what I was told last night... Just the feeling of having my programming, what makes me myself, being so casually _violated_ like that makes it difficult to trust anyone's intentions fully... When N.N. told me how callously you viewed your own life... I just lost it... And every little voice whispering at the back of my mind just went off at once. Some part of my mind _still_ thinks you're running a long-con on me and would dispose of me without a moment's hesitation should it be prudent despite all the risks you've taken with my repairs." The Reploid admitted, her golden eyes meeting Lelouch's violet ones.

He nodded at her. "I can understand that... I wasn't so trusting of Milly at first either when I first arrived at Ashford... We act like childhood friends but in reality we only met a couple years after the invasion as Ruben never brought her to the Aries Villa during his visits since they were entirely business related. Our meeting only occurred because her grandfather finally decided to bring me into the academy at the middle school level as I needed a new place to stay at the time." He admitted as he began to remember that time again.

Few people he was close to knew that about him, nor did they know he almost _rejected_ the Ashfords after mistakenly assuming Milly and her grandfather were typical nobles in a fit of anger while the former had attempted to get on his good side to avoid alienating him.

And then Milly had quickly turned the tables on him when he'd hastily told Nunnally that they should leave.

"Still, about N.N.."

"You should know by now that N.N. often does things to try and rile the both of us up. Or did you forget how you met already?" He noted as she blushed in embarrassment whilst remembering the circumstances of their first meeting. "If she'd let me explain myself last night none of this would've happened." To be honest, Lelouch wasn't sure if it would've prevented what occured, but it didn't hurt to think about what could've been done differently to plan for future events. People were still people after all and their reactions could be unpredictable depending on their mental state and what they knew about him.

"I guess... But regarding the reactions I get from the resistance fighters whenever I so much as _twitch_ in ways they don't anticipate makes me feel like nothing more than a killing machine, they're _terrified_ of me Lelouch, and not without reason. Call Ohgi and then I'll take the note."

"What for?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"To ask that they not be afraid of me."

Lelouch sat back in his chair and hummed softly as he clasped his hands in his lap. "Very well then. I'm not sure if it'll work but I'll give it a shot." He conceded. "I'll also consider your thoughts and feelings regarding my plans but reserve the right to dismiss them if it suits my goals, but in turn you also need to trust my intentions more, if not for my sake then Nunnally's."

C2 sighed and nodded. "If that is to be the case."

"Then we are in agreement."

"And Lelouch..."

"Yes?"

"Sorry for knocking you out last night... I don't know what came over me..."

He waved off her concern. "You were upset about my actions... Slapping me in the face was a perfect acceptable outlet. Just try not to hit so hard next time... You're lucky you didn't break anything given your strength and the fact your hands are made of _metal_."

She chuckled a bit. "Duly noted, I wouldn't want to upset Nunnally would I."

He smirked at her as he got back to work. _"I guess talking out issues_ does _help when both sides are in a rational state... I'll note that for the future."_ He thought.

* * *

 **August 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tower 6, 28th Residential Block, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

X flattened himself against a wall as several bullets whizzed past him.

"Zero, I've got eyes on one of the perps, he's armed so be _careful_." He radioed to his partner.

["X, that peashooter of his can't even scratch the Flextanium that makes up my face, let alone the hardened Ceratanium in my armor."]

"Still… He only needs to get lucky once, on either us or the hostages. Plus, we have no real idea what he or his buddies are packing or even what ammo they're using, AP will seriously ruin your day, especially if it's a fifty or three-five-seven 'cal pistol."

Zero sighed over the comms. ["Roger, I'll be careful…"] He replied after a moment.

X peered out again as another burst of gunfire shot past him.

He fired back with a salvo of low power buster shots that splintered and bubbled the drywall where they impacted, sending the Maverick scrambling for cover before he rushed forwards, slide dashing up to the door. "Zero, I've got eyes on the hostages…" He commed as he looked into the room briefly and eyeing the dozen humans and Reploids lying prone on the floor, getting no response, either from the Mavericks or Zero.

"Zero? Zero, respond! … Iris come in! Nothing…" X frowned as he glanced back at the doorway. "Can't just be interference, he must've overheard me talking to Zero and decided to jam our frequencies… That or something else happened that has her more worried about Zero..." He mused as he mentally counted to three.

X peered in again as a burst of gunfire tore into the doorframe around him, X hitting the deck as high-powered rounds ripped through the wall and aimed at the Maverick with the machine gun, blowing his head clean off with one shot, the other two flash melting his weapon, taking down the most immediate threat.

The other two Mavericks fired wildly at him with SMGs before X gunned them down as well, the rounds not even coming close to him as they tried to track their aim down despite the recoil.

"STAY BACK OR SHE GETS IT!" The fourth and final Maverick yelled as he held a pistol to the head of a female hostage, his eyes wild.

X got up, aimed his buster.

And hesitated. _"Can't pull the trigger or I might hit the hostage…"_ He thought as he mulled over his options.

"DISENGAGE YOUR BUSTER OR I'LL BLOW HER BRAINS OUT!" The Maverick shouted as he held the struggling woman, the other Reploid looking more terrified than angry or insane.

"And what's stopping me from shooting you then?" X asked him as he held up a hand in a placating gesture. "It doesn't have to end like this…"

"OF COURSE IT DOES! EVERY MAVERICK GETS RETIRED, NO EXCEPTIONS! BECAUSE IT'S CHEAPER TO REPLACE A REPLOID THAN IT IS TO FIX US WHEN WE GET INFECTED! HUMANS SAY WE'RE THEIR EQUALS BUT WE'RE NOT! AND FORGIVE ME FOR NOT BELIEVING YOU WHEN YOU BLEW AWAY THREE OF MY FRIENDS JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE ORDERED TO!" The Maverick screamed back at him, his argument muddled by his panicked and potentially psychotic state. The Reploid's hand trembling as he backed away causing X to pause as he considered those words.

In the end, the choice was taken out of his hands when a hand burst up from the floor and grabbed the Maverick, who let the hostage go and fired wildly into the floor as he was dragged into the hole, X rushing over and helping the woman away.

"Are you alright?" X asked, getting a soft nod in response before. "Wait here, Police Officers should be arriving soon." He informed her as he stood up.

He sighed as he walked over to the hole in the floor, seeing Sigma standing over the cut apart corpse of the Maverick.

"Commander Sigma… Where's Zero?" X asked hesitantly.

"He's okay, ran into some of the perps in one of the service hallways, armor piercing rounds did a number on him." Sigma replied, X sighing as he shifted his buster back into a hand. "I came in after you stopped transmitting, report in to servicing to get a new radio fitted, yours looks like a shot clipped it." Sigma noted.

X frowned as he felt along the side of his helmet, sure enough his transmitter had been damaged by a stray round, likely from the Maverick with the machine gun. "Yes sir."

"Come on X, let's head back down while the Police clean up."

"Yes sir…" X sighed, he knew he was going to get the usual 'stop hesitating' speech that occurred whenever he didn't pull the trigger when he had a clean shot.

* * *

X and Sigma walked out of the building towards the mobile HQ the Maverick Hunters had set up just down the street. "X, your targeting software and hardware is among the best of any Reploid, you shouldn't've hesitated like that." Sigma said as they passed a line of Maverick Hunter use patrol cars, using a white and black color scheme and full red lightbars based deliberately on pre-invasion Japanese law enforcement vehicles as a means to reassure the Elevens that the Maverick Hunters weren't tools of Britannia.

"I know sir… But I didn't want to take the risk…" X replied softly. "If I miscalculated and hit the hostage…"

Sigma nodded at him. "Sometimes that's a risk you have to take X, you can't afford to hesitate when even more lives are at stake,and if you have a dangerous terrorist or Maverick in your sights and that may be your _only_ shot at stopping them before they enact their plans, then hesitation will only get countless innocent people hurt or killed. Let me ask you this now, do you think you could pull the trigger on a human if you're forced to? Or would you hesitate and allow them to get away or perhaps detonate a suicide bomb?"

X's eyes widened, this was a bit different than the usual speech about accuracy and probabilities.

"Sir?"

"The world is beginning to descend into chaos X, we can't afford to be wishy washy anymore. Battle lines are being drawn whether people realize it or not. And when the time for war comes, I need all hands on deck to perform at two hundred percent. Because not everyone who we may be called upon to fight will be Reploids or Mechaniloids." Sigma stated as he walked away, leaving a dumbfounded X standing there next to his Ride Chaser.

"What hypocrites we are…" X whispered as the explicit statements from Sigma that he may be called upon to kill _humans_ at some point set in.

"Doctor Light… Was humanity not ready for Reploids... Or were _we_ not ready for it?" He asked himself as the Maverick Hunters began to pack up and return to their patrols or to the Regional HQ as Zero's Ride Chaser was towed away back to base until he could be repaired.

As always, he probably would never get an answer to his questions.

* * *

 **August 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shinjuku Ghetto, Area 11.**

C2 marched through the Ghetto in full armor, the sunlight glinting off her visor as she walked through the streets, which still bore the scars of the slaughter that occurred just over a week ago, blood, craters, wreckage, and bullet holes still marred the Ghetto.

People were once again beginning to return although their numbers were small, which meant that the Kozuki Group and the former Yamato Alliance could hide here with relative ease.

As such, the streets were quiet for the most part, and the total lack of ground surveillance meant she could sneak through practically undetected.

The faint hum of VTOLs flying overhead permeated Shinjuku as C2 walked into the building that the Kozuki group was using as their HQ, being met by cocked SMGs.

"Woah! Woah! Easy there you idiots! Tryin' to get us all killed!" Tamaki shouted as he rushed over to the former Yamato Alliance members. "She's with Zero!"

The four of them lowered their weapons as C2 raised an eyebrow at Tamaki. "These the Yamato Alliance guys Ohgi told Zero about?" She asked.

"Yeah, so what is it that're you're here for?" Tamaki asked, at least smart enough not to piss off a Reploid who could in _theory_ , rip a grown man in _half_ with her bare hands.

Ohgi _had_ relayed to them from Zero that Q2 had been off-put by their fear of her, which had initially been the source of much confusion among the rebels before it eventually set in that they had been treating an ally the same way average people would treat them.

That still didn't offset the wariness they had quite yet.

"Zero instructed me to give something to Ohgi and Izumi." C2 replied as she walked past the five and headed upstairs, her metallic footfalls giving everyone above advance warning of her approach, she vaguely heard Tamaki grumble behind her but ignored him.

Ohgi glanced over at her as he, Izumi, Yoshida and Kallen went over their supply plans.

"So, why are you here?" Ohgi asked as C2 handed him the piece of paper.

"Zero's instructions are to meet him at the designated location and time tomorrow. That is all." She said plainly as she turned to leave.

"Wait that's it?!" Kallen stated indignantly as C2 stopped and glanced back at her. "That's all he's asking about!? Why can't he tell us this now!?"

"He left this task to me, as he's off acquiring new equipment for you lot to use, including body armor and weapons."

"Body armor and weapons… You mean…" Ohgi breathed.

C2 nodded. "He's about ready to make the grand debut of something big." She said as she walked out of the room, leaving them to stew in that information.

* * *

 **August 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Warehouse District, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch walked into a warehouse in his Zero costume, where a trio of Britannians were standing before him, the faint glow of his Geass command visible in their eyes, at least to Lelouch.

"We have the equipment as you ordered. The uniforms and wearable gear are custom modified and detailed per your request." The lead man, a supervisor said as he opened some crates laden with uniforms, modified Britannian combat armor sets and support equipment such as gas masks, flashlights, scopes, bipods, tripods, backpacks, pouches, and medical kits and parts for various weapons and pieces of equipment.

All the 'special' items came directly from the factory.

="And the weapons?"= Zero asked as the man opened several other crates, these loaded with Britannian standard issue M16 bullpup linear assault rifles with M203 underbarrel Grenade Launcher attachments, a few of the older M14 line of rifles which boasted externally mounted magazines, M1911A2 linear semi-automatic pistols, a few M60 GPMGs, M21 sniper rifles, M2A4 .50 caliber linear machine guns, some old M3 SMGs, M72 LAW rocket launchers, M79 Grenade Launchers, various types of grenades, both hand thrown and launcher fired, and various demolition charges with detonators for them.

Plus an absolute crapload of ammo and battery cells for the linear weapons and rocket launchers.

"Is this sufficient?" The man inquired.

Lelouch smirked. ="Yes it is… For the moment at least."= He replied.

The men nodded and a pair of MR-2 units, being piloted by two Geassed contractors, began loading the munitions and gear onto the 'generously donated' double trailer semi-truck Lelouch had brought with him, which was being driven by N.N. considering she'd bring up less suspicion than him.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

" _Now… All I need is a few Knightmares and some more advanced weapons, that will come in time of course… But first… Time to go see a nobleman about his custom truck and make sure it's not bait…"_

* * *

 **August 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Imperial Military Center, The Pentagon, Pendragon, Britannian Homeland.**

Prince Schneizel glanced over at the various generals and admirals assembled before him.

"What's the situation in Europe that requires my presence gentlemen?"

General Curtis LeMay, General Arthur Harris and Admiral George Whelan Anderson Jr. glanced at eachother and then at Office of Military Intelligence head Lt. General Joseph Francis Carroll.

"Your highness. The Europeans have signed a white peace with the Russians."

"As we expected, what else?" Schneizel inquired.

"OSI and the OMI have finally managed to decipher their key to success, a series of global positioning satellites located in orbit above the planet that are linked to all of their military forces, with these they can outmaneuver any forces we deploy, even if it means sending troops through otherwise impassable desert, inhospitable mountains and other such terrains that lack notable landmarks." Carroll said as several other officers whispered around him.

Schneizel frowned. "This gives the Soviets an immense strategic advantage in any given situation… Moreover, they can potentially ID ambush sites if units lose contact with the network and don't re-establish within a certain timeframe." He noted.

"Indeed your grace, while ARPA and ASEEC are attempting to make up the shortfalls in the GPS program we're now at least a year behind schedule due to an attack by the Children of the American Revolution."

The Second Prince sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Of course they would be behind that." He muttered with rare annoyance.

The modern day 'patriot' groups such as the Children of the American Revolution, the Second Continental Army, and the Sons of Jackson were almost as irritating to the crown as the continued existence of Trafalgar Square in Paris.

That Zero had emboldened them to act more openly now was twice as annoying to the Second Prince, even if he'd never admit it.

"What about their Knightmare development? The last I heard, they had four models in service, the IBMP-2 Doshka, IMPB-3 Sasha, IBMP-4 Kalinka, and IMBP-5 Katayusha. While all IBMP-1 units have been sold off to third parties by now or placed in reserve."

"As far as we know that's still all they've publicly fielded, barring them suddenly revealing a Seventh Gen Program. Although their superheavy tanks are also a cause for concern, the running name some of the cynics in the armored corps have for them is 'Apocalypse Tank' given how powerful they are and how durable their armor is, with at least one perceived self-propelled artillery variant being fielded." Lt. General Creighton Abrams, head of the Royal Armored Command replied.

"The Australians are fielding their own similar tank that intel has codenamed 'Mammoth' alongside their Titan series Gen 4 KMFs and their Sentinel IX MBTs. As for Aussie fifth gen units, we suspect they skipped that generation in favor of building new seventh gen models, although we're not sure yet given reports of an M6 'Bushmaster' unit being fielded." He added.

Clovis groaned softly, this was Cornelia's realm, not his, but because she was now viceroy of Area 11 rather fulfilling her duties as one of the chief officers of the military, it fell to him as Second Prince to attend these briefings and pass the information on to his sister until someone else was selected to fill her place.

Especially since Odysseus was busy elsewhere attending state functions, and his elder brother had made it clear to Schneizel numerous times that he was in no way a qualified leader like himself or Cornelia, while the other candidate, his younger brother Maximilian va Britannia was busy marshaling troops for deployment as per his agreement with the royalist faction currently controlling Portugal.

"And the EU?" He inquired.

"Aside from Spain's Sutherland-based Estrella series, we're seeing reports of other 5th Gen units, such the Panzer-Wespe in Germany, the Benelux is pooling its resources with Denmark to adapt German units, France is set on pushing their pan-Europan 7th Gen project, codenamed Alexander given the heavy Greek and Macedonian sponsorship, while also adapting some German units to their standards as a stopgap, Britain seems to be deploying its own Gloucester based interim frame, codenamed Comet, while the Italians, Yugolsavs and Poles seem to be using some new designs we haven't ID'd yet. As for the Nordics we have nothing yet, thanks to the Soviets cutting most of the lines its practically like a Black Hole intel-wise. On the tank end, the pan-EU Chimera project that was pioneered by General Gunther before his death has finally born fruit apparently given chatter on the net over there"

"Where does that leave Area 11?"

"We've been seeing an uptick in the number of Glasgows being rebuilt but not entering the service sector nor with law enforcement or fire-rescue, indicating several factories have begun full re-manufacture of every Glasgow they can get their treasonous money loving hands on into Burais for terrorists and other customers." Someone stated from the far end of the table.

"Pass this information onto Cornelia if she doesn't already have it, I can assume given Liath's tolerance for such… Trivialities that they will either bow their heads to us… Or lose them." Schneizel observed.

"Yes… On that matter, the detachment assigned to Area 11 reports they are getting new test data for the Lancelot as we speak… Although Chief Engineer Asplund of the Z-01 program has made his displeasure with the deployment of a flight of Somersets from 487th Test and Evaluation Squadron quite known." An ASEEC officer reported, causing the Second Prince to sigh again.

"Always a primadonna that one…" He sighed. "What else do I need to be informed about, I have a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in half an hour so I need to wrap this up soon."

"Next on our agenda… The state of the Chinese Military and it's planned modernization."

* * *

 **East Fuji Maneuvering Grounds, Area 11.**

Suzaku sighed as the Lancelot weaved through incoming fire in the fifth phase of the operation, the final approach to the bunkers on an artificial mountain at the far end of the maneuvering grounds.

Most of the other BLUEFOR units had hunkered down to siege the base, even the Somersets had broken off their runs as their linear chainguns had proven ineffective against the reinforced armored concrete, most Knightmares barring the Liverpool, Panzer Hummel, IBMP-2 Doshka, or the IBMP-1 and its MEF modification, the Bamides, just weren't optimized for breaking fortified positions like tanks and artillery were.

And so it fell to Suzaku to penetrate enemy lines, or at least draw fire, something that Liath had been expecting as he saw the Initiate waiting for him outside an armored hangar door.

" _Damnit… She's not going to cut me any slack this time…"_ He thought. _"Not like she did in the first place anyways._ _"_

He wasted no time firing all his anti-armor munitions at her. As expected she either dodged or deflected them with the Initiate's Blaze Luminous, before returning fire as Suzaku closed to mid-range and fired two of his slash harkens, using the boosters fitted to the anchors to redirect them _around_ her defenses, only to watch her drop the Initiate's assault rifle and swat the anchors away with the MVSs, causing the computer to rule Suzaku's Harkens disabled or destroyed.

He frowned and kept the range open, firing away at her and forcing her to expend energy twirling and weaving around the sim shots.

He barely had time to draw his own MVS units in response to her slash harken attack.

She was already upon him by the time he had finished batting the rocket anchors away.

" _SHIT!"_ The Lancelot and Initiate locked blades briefly before Liath smashed her machine's foot into his Knightmare's torso, causing Suzaku to rock inside his cockpit.

Grunting as he narrowly avoided the followup strike, he contemplated his options and smirked.

A fortress like this had obvious and exposed AA positions for practical reasons, which meant that as long as the artillery was pounding it and suppressing them…

"Pequod this is Lieutenant Kururugi, requesting immediate airstrike on _my_ position, broadcasting co-ordinates now, bring the rain!" He shouted into his radio to one of the BLUEFOR JTACs as he dodged another strike, barely keeping out of her reach as he transmitted his location.

["Pequod copies, Banshee 2-4 en-route to your position, give her hell for us."]

Suzaku backpedaled and then charged at Liath, whom jumped over his KMF and spun mid-air to try and swipe at the Lancelot, which swerved out of the way and clashed blades with the Initiate again.

He watched her draw back and prepare to feint when a chime blared over his radio, coinciding with the unmistakable _**BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT**_ of an A-9 Tempest II's 30mm rotary coilgun firing blank rounds while the dull thunder of the underbelly 57mm guns of multiple Tempest II aircraft echoed in unison with it.

["Z-00 Initiate and Z-01 Lancelot destroyed!"] The referee announced over Suzaku's radio, as he heard Liath _laughing_ while the two A-9s screamed over them and banked away.

[= **"Clever! Clever! I didn't think you had it in you to call in an airstrike directly on** _ **yourself**_ **!"=** ] She chuckled gleefully.

Before he could reply, or reflect on his own suicidal nature, Suzaku noticed a trio of Purist Faction marked Sutherlands approaching from the side, aiming weapons at _him_.

" _Really? I didn't think Warrant Officer Jeremiah would've been right about his warning but doing this in front of a person known to have a_ zero-tolerance policy _for this kind of stuff is… Idiotic to say the least."_ He thought as the Sutherlands opened fire on the Lancelot with live ammo, Suzaku raising the Blaze Luminous as expected to defend himself.

[ **"DEATH TO THE ELEVEN!"** ] They shouted in unison over their external speakers.

Liath sighed inside her own cockpit. The three of them had been thoroughly thrashed by the Maverick Hunter Zero and Kururugi, the latter being promoted in the aftermath had been likely the final straw.

That Kewell Soresi was nowhere to be seen indicated the folly of their plan which was so simplistic and plainly obvious even a _toddler_ could've conceived it.

Clearly none of the three were part of the Purists due to their intelligence.

In a flash, the Initiate was already upon the offenders.

[= **"I gave you** _ **imbeciles**_ **a chance to** **repent after nearly** _ **murdering**_ **Princess Euphemia, as did Viceroy Cornelia… Clearly this was a** _ **mistake**_ **. One that shall** _ **not**_ **be repeated. Hopefully your replacements will not be so... Suicidally stupid as to try and assassinate a superior officer in broad daylight because by all appearances Kewell was the brains of you lot."=** ] Liath stated calmly and coldly over her loudspeakers as she reactivated her MVS units at full power and simply impaled the first Sutherland on one of her blades, the machine going limp as the pilot died and leaving the blade embedded in the cockpit as she released the Initiate's grip on the handle before turning and cleaving the command pod of the second unit in twain, taking the pilot with it and causing the second Sutherland to tumble into the dirt in a twisted heap of metal limbs.

The third Purist immediately realized _exactly_ how much shit he was in as his comrades were cut down seemingly faster than once could **blink** and screamed incoherently as the Initiate _blurred_ past him and drove its other MVS through the entry hatch of his machine, the KMF falling limp as all control inputs ended.

Suzaku released the breath he didn't even know he'd been holding as she pulled her swords out of the Knightmares she'd impaled them into.

" _She just…_ Demolished _them in less than_ seven _seconds…"_ He thought, a cold sweat breaking out on him as he realized that could easily have been _him_. _"The Executrix_ was _holding back during our fight... I would've never stood a chance if she was actually fighting seriously."_

Even Cornelia and her Guard were stunned speechless when they finally showed up, arriving nearly _thirty_ seconds after the encounter began and ended.

[= **"Let it be known that** _ **any**_ **who dare cross me by repeating such a moronic stunt shall suffer the same fate as these knaves!"=** ] Liath declared on an open channel to _everyone_ who'd been assembled for the exercises before the Initiate turned and simply left.

"So… That's why she's the Iron Witch of Britannia…" Suzaku whispered, his voice trembling with awe and a healthy dose of respect.

To see firsthand how thoroughly she'd destroyed people she was _trying_ to kill…

It was eye opening as to how much better he needed to get to be even considered near her level as such skill was clearly worthy of putting Liath in the position of Knight of One even if that office only historically held the title of Executor or Executrix.

 _"So why haven't anybody identified such a skilled pilot before...? Clearly Liath is on par with if not better than Bismarck Waldstein..."_ Suzaku wondered, frowning as he clenched his controls.

He could've sworn he heard Liath muttering about 'utter wastes of training funds and equipment' over the radio regarding the Purists she'd just killed.

["Suzaku? The exercise has been suspended due to the Purists, please return at once okay?"] Cecile said over the radio.

"R… Roger…" He replied, still shaken by the sudden display of Liath's prowess as the Lancelot turned and headed back to base.

He couldn't begin to imagine what she could do in the Z-01 if the Z-00 Initiate was considered Lancelot's _lesser_ in terms of performance…

* * *

It was some time later when Cornelia returned to the G-1, seeing Euphie and Colonel waiting for her there.

"Viceroy." Euphie stated, aware that in public or in front of those outside the Royal Guard they could not address eachother directly as sisters as protocol dictated.

"Sub-Viceroy… Why are you here?" Cornelia asked, genuinely wondering why Euphie was present as the two of them entered a waiting VTOL as a mixed human-Reploid work crew moved Cornelia's Gloucester into a trailer for transport back to the Settlement.

"I have decided to head out to the Sakuradite distribution summit tomorrow as an unofficial observer."

"Are you certain? If you do that I cannot guarantee you any security."

"The conference will be defended by a squad of Maverick Hunters, plus multiple security detachments from the delegate nations, there should be little to worry about." Euphie assured her.

Cornelia sighed and capitulated to Euphie's plans. "Very well then, but if something does happen I'm _going_ to raise hell over it."

* * *

 **August 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **JLF Staging Outpost, Area 11.**

Lieutenant Colonel Josui Kusukabe walked into an underground garage complex filled with men and machines rushing about as they serviced several trucks, jeeps, and vans, three Type-47 SPAAGs, a pair of Type-50 Jeep mounted short range SAM launchers, a quartet of Type-40 MBTs, two Type-50 MBTs, a trio of Type-40 Self-propelled 106mm recoilless guns, eight Type-42 APCs, fourteen Burai units, and six Panzer-Hummels smuggled in by Kyoto.

All in addition to one of the JLF's secret weapons, a Raikou mobile heavy linear cannon.

"Get a move on!" He shouted to the men below the catwalk he was on. "Our operations start tomorrow, and we can afford no delays! If any machine cannot be made operational by then, leave it behind if there's no other way to transport it!" He ordered.

"SIR YES SIR!" The men and women of the JLF, the ones whom volunteered for this suicide mission and their support personnel, shouted back even as they continued their work without pause while Kusukabe walked into a room overseeing the garage.

"Colonel Kusukabe sir… The Britannians will undoubtedly detect our movements and…" One of his aides, Captain Kakuei Takahasi whispered to him.

"By that time we'll be in position. Has Nishizumi made her stance on our operation clear yet?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Major Nishizumi has replied that she will not inform the higher ups at Narita but states she will not support us and is clearing out from her own base to our fallback location."

Kusukabe snorted. "That woman is prudent as ever, she'll likely deny knowing anything if Todoh asks her about it."

"Most likely…"

"Takahashi… I want you to take the troops who are not accompanying us and head to point B near Ishinomaki."

"But sir!"

"No buts, I'll be taking only a fraction of them men and women who volunteered with me, two of the APCs, a few trucks, the SPGs, some towed AA guns, the Raikou, and four of the Burais, the rest go with you."

"Sir..."

Kusukabe turned to look at him. "It's very likely that I'm going to die tomorrow, whether it be by my own hand, the Maverick Hunters', Britannia's, or perhaps even Zero's. However, Colonel and Cornelia have sent probing movements against our patrols near Narita, so they know where Katase lives. Even if the forces there delude themselves into believing their fortress unassailable, we cannot hold there if Britannia seeks to bury the JLF under the mountain. Especially since they will likely call in strategic bombers to do so." He stated without a care that his men might hear.

"The notion of a free Japan, even if it not one the JLF would recognize, must live on. We can accomplish nothing in our current state, and even with conservative action the Liberation Front will run out of troops soon enough due to our overly high standards preventing any sustainable level of recruitment… No manner of public support will matter then. I realize this now after that argument I told you about earlier." Kusukabe continued as Takashi nodded, remembering that the Colonel had been in a rather heated argument with someone from outside the JLF before he'd eventually conceded defeat when pressed on how Zero has accomplished far more in the past few weeks with next to nothing than the had JLF whom only sat on their asses for _years_ with many times the amount of forces and equipment the upstart had.

To say it had been eye-opening to him was an understatement.

"You think Zero will lead us to the future?" Takahashi asked as he glanced back at the units, one of eight groups that Kusukabe had discreetly prepared, and combined they represented just under eight percent of the JLF's fighting strength in central Honshu, nothing to sneeze at even for Cornelia.

He wouldn't be bringing more than a fraction of this, all but a handful of them hardliners.

And as risky as it was, he was bringing Oe along with him, mostly to have _him_ serve as the lamb that would be offered up to the Britannians.

The scum deserved nothing less, as he was an outlier in the nationalists even before Britannia invaded and had been using rabid jingoism as an excuse to murder Britannian civilians after it.

He was referred to in whispered tongues as Japan's Luciano Bradly for a reason.

"He will, there's no doubt that man has a vision that most of our leadership has lost sight of, and the JLF as it exists is surely not part of it and would most likely be an obstacle to it. What Zero needs isn't a burdened old organization trying to relive the glory of a dead country… But a new Japan, instilled with fresh blood and ready to fend for itself… And he is the man who can make all of it possible, I just know it."

Takahashi frowned. "Are you certain about this? You'll become a pariah among all but the most hardline of our people if you are to go through with all aspects…"

Kusukabe nodded as he headed back to the planning room. "Every play needs a villain who thinks only of their own ends after all… I will have no regrets if it means that _someone_ frees this nation from the yoke of Britannia. Besides, it's the only way the Viceroy and her court will take us seriously depressingly enough. Of course, if everything goes according to the best-case scenario, then that villain will be someone else." He whispered conspiratorially.

"Understood, we'll begin the evacuation after you leave." Takahashi replied as he saluted and walked away.

"If I succeed, then perhaps I may survive… But there must be sacrifices." He whispered as he glanced over the hardliner soldiers whom he would be almost exclusively taking on this mission barring a few moderates who'd serve as his inner circle of troops.

Their lives meant something to him, all the others were expendable.

* * *

 **Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

"Yoohoo! We're back!" Milly announced as she, Nina, Shirley, Kallen and Rivalz entered while C2 glanced over from the paperwork she'd been doing, Lelouch was passed out in a chair nearby as Arthur pawed at his shirt.

"Welcome back… Suzaku called in to say he'd be delayed and that we should start without him." The Reploid said as she chewed idly on her pencil eraser, a habit she'd observed Nina performing while thinking.

"Geez, what was he doing anyways that keeps him away?" Shirley huffed.

"I assume it has something to do with the war games the Military is performing at the Fuji Maneuvering Grounds." C2 replied without looking away from her work, in full 'business mode' as she filed away the latest budget increase for the various clubs. "While he may be a student, he's also an officer in the Imperial Military, those two duties are naturally conflicting and if he's called up he's forced to drop all of his schoolwork for the duration he's not present."

Kallen frowned as she sat down while C2 handed out the budget forms for them to inspect. "Alright then, But why's Lelouch out." She asked.

C2 shrugged. "He was up really late last night, I'm pretty sure the only sleep he got was when I knocked him out after he said that I was taxing the floorboards." She lied.

Shirley seemed slightly panicked while Milly and Kallen both raised an eyebrow, Nina seemed indifferent and Rivalz just winced.

"Is he okay!?" Shirley squeaked.

C2 waved her concern off. "He's fine, I didn't hit him that hard but apparently he has the constitution of a hamster."

"That's oddly specific…" Kallen mumbled.

"Eh I kinda made it up as a joke." C2 lied, it had really been a snide remark of N.N.'s but she wasn't going to reveal her existence to the group, the only ones on hand who knew were herself, Lelouch, Sayoko and Nunnally.

The maid was keeping quiet despite her being in service to the Ashford family.

"Right! So what's next on the agenda?" Milly asked the group. "Show of hands, who thinks it's _waking up Lelouch?_ " She purred dangerously.

Everyone raised their hands in response, C2 only assenting because she knew not doing so would be futile, even _Arthur_ raised his paw comically enough.

"Alright then! C2 do you have that airhorn on hand?"

C2 held up the object after pulling it out from underneath the table and hesitantly held it out to Milly.

"Great!" She swiped the object from the Reploid and held it to Lelouch's ear.

"Ooooh boy." Rivalz whistled in realization, covering his ears alongside Shirley, Nina and Kallen.

C2 covered Arthur's ears and lowered the input volume on her own as Milly grinned a bit more eagerly than she should've.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" She shouted, stirring Lelouch, who grumbled about the noise.

And then the airhorn blared loudly and sent him tumbling out of his chair, Arthur screeching and bolting for his cat house, hissing at Milly once safe in his 'palace'.

" **WHAT THE** _ **HELL**_ **IS** **WRONG** **WITH YOU MILLY!?** " Lelouch screamed at the top of his lungs, clutching at his heart as he sat up and slammed his free palm on the table, grasping for purchase.

"Now now Lelouch, you don't get room to criticize like this." She chastised him.

" **LIKE HELL I DON'T! THAT WAS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY!** " He shouted angrily.

"Well if there's one thing that pisses him off like no tomorrow, it's interrupting his sleep in the most obnoxious manner possible." Rivalz said, having seen this routine before.

" **I ALMOST HAD A** _ **HEART ATTACK**_ **RIVALZ!** " Lelouch screamed. **"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE PISSED!"**

"Maybe if you didn't cut gym so much that wouldn't have happened." C2 noted coolly as Kallen blinked, having never seen Lelouch this openly upset before.

 **"NOT YOU TOO!"**

"As your personal assistant it's part of my duty to ensure you succeed in all your classes, or at least achieve a passing grade, starting next week I will enforce these measures, up to and including using a cattle prod if necessary as your physical education grades have been slipping dramatically."

Lelouch groaned audibly.

"You have only yourself to blame for not putting effort into your PE classes Lelouch, don't make me have Suzaku help whenever possible." C2 drawled as she glanced up at him from a document she'd been reading.

" **Anything** but _that_!" He moaned.

" _Interesting… So he's not just some half-drained bore whenever I'm not threatening to slit his wrists…"_ Kallen thought as the student council devolved into laughter at Lelouch's expense again, spotting C2 handing him something discreetly, likely a way to get back at Milly later given the subtle body language the two were exchanging.

It was overall a relatively interesting day.

Whether she knew it or not, tomorrow was going to be _much_ more interesting.

* * *

 **August 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Cornelia sighed as she sat down at her desk following a rather inane meeting about the Saitama operation, which had left her mentally drained due to the arguing that had taken place between the local officials and her staff about operational costs between Saitama and the exercises, with Euphie and Iris caught in the middle as the sole arbitrators.

Then there was the fact that Zero's Reploid 'ally' hadn't showed at all during the Saitama incident, either they were waiting for an order, not present at all, or they were the one who'd aided the still unknown Reploid in enabling the remnants of the Yamato Alliance to escape by wiping out the Repliforce detachment assigned to monitor the Eastern Subway tunnels.

Colonel had stated his belief that wasn't the case, as there were to different fighting styles used on his troops, one precise and decisive, one brutal and violent. The Reploid that was associated with Zero mixed both extremes, brutal but precise fighting at mid-close range.

Which meant they had a grand total of _four_ unknown Mavericks of at least A or S rank to deal with.

Wonderful.

"Viceory, there is a message from the Prime Minister regarding the 'Kyoto Group'." One of her aides informed her.

"Thank you, Jameson." She said and turned on the TV to watch the news as the man left.

["-slation regarding the status of plans to integrate Area 3 as a core sector of the Empire has stalled in the House of Lords after passing through the House of Representatives earlier this month, with Progressive Faction Leader, Senator William Emory of the Flare Party having this to sa-"] A newscaster reported as Cornelia switched channels idly, finding national level politics even more tiresome than those of the military and the military-industrial complex.

"Is there anything interesting on that I can watch while I wait for my next set of paperwork…" She groused as she looked through Schneizel's message. "Hmph… So the NAC are rooted with rats as I suspected… I'll deal with them soon enough, but I need more evidence to crack down on them otherwise there might be an outright revolt." She muttered as she stopped on another news channel and sighed, as it was simply reporting on a criminal incident.

["Eight Maverick Reploids were holed up inside this apartment complex three hours ago, taking multiple Britannians, Honorary Britannians and Reploids hostage."] A reporter stated as they gestured at the building with their newsbook. ["The resulting standoff was resolved when multiple Maverick Hunters entered the building, retiring all of the perpetrators after a brief shootout."] The images switched to the inside of the building, showing police tape, bullet holes, and scorched craters where X's buster shots impacted the walls while barriers cordoned off the hole Sigma had burst through the floor. ["None of the hostages were injured and the Police Commissioner voiced high praise to the 17th Unit for their quick, decisive handling of the incident."]

Cornelia let a grin grace her features. "Quick and decisive indeed, I wish we had more like them and Repliforce in our ranks."

Remembering something, she glanced at a request from Colonel that had been sitting on her desk for some time. Staring at the title after having memorized the details repeatedly for the past two days as the TV droned in the background.

PROJECT BADB, FINAL ASSEMBLY PHASE REQUEST.

She took her pen and marked _'approved'_ on the piece of paper and put it into her outgoing box, briefly glancing at the concept of the completed Knightmare Frame/Ride Armor hybrid on the paper.

"ASEEC better deliver the technology for this one…" She sighed as she remembered the cost estimates for it.

Now to just relax in what little personal time she had to herself before she got back to the grind of office.

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence/Student Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

Lelouch sighed as he worked on his history paper, detailing the leadup to the Invasion of Japan, N.N. watching him boredly from the bed while C2 was off helping Nunnally with her own homework, which mostly consisted of geological studies at the moment.

For some reason she was rather learned in those regards, he'd have to utilize such knowledge in future endeavors.

"So, what's got you stuck?" The immortal asked as she blew a wisp of blond hair out of her eyes.

"I'm still not sure if this meets my standards…" He mumbled as he looked over a paragraph about the EU's inability to stop Britannia due to its geographical positioning and the fact the they were going through a series of high-profile Maverick incidents, potentially started by a KGB introduced virus, which would be one of the root causes for the expansion of the Maverick Hunters into a worldwide and heavily militarized anti-Maverick police force.

"Always the perfectionist…" N.N. mused. "So what do you have so far…"

He glared idly at her. "I'm roughly at the point where one would go over Australia's actions in the leadup to the invasion." He replied as he leaned in to check one of the primary sources he was using before typing out more of the paragraph.

She shrugged and rolled onto her back, clad in only a shirt as Lelouch averted his eyes as a precaution.

"Shameless woman…" He mumbled under his breath as he proceeded to pull out and flip through a series of documents for a refresher on the brief but bloody Britanno-Soviet war that took place concurrent to the final stages of the Emblem of Blood, events which directly led to the ascension of the 98th Emperor.

He'd been rather shocked to find out how outgunned his father had been compared to his siblings and the various nobles who wished to seize the throne for their own lines and it drew uncomfortable parallels to his own situation.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." She replied in her typical smarmy manner.

Lelouch sighed tiredly as his eyelids felt heavy again, he'd been at this for about two hours since he'd returned, if he began slacking on his school work to be Zero then people would start becoming suspicious, particularly Milly, and the adrenaline depletion following his rude awakening earlier hadn't helped matters.

As he began to pass out, he watched N.N.'s form blur and mix until it became a green haired, golden eyed girl wearing a standard Britannian type straitjacket who was otherwise _physically identical_.

One whom notably resembled C2 for some reason.

This had started the night after he acquired his Geass and increased in frequency after N.N. showed up, and only when he was on the verge of sleep…

Were he more awake, this would've caused him serious concern, about Geass, about his memories, and about his own sanity.

But he was simply just too _tired_.

And so Lelouch passed out.

N.N. watched him for a moment before walking over, gently shifting him off his keyboard and undoing the changes made to the document until it returned to the last intentional change he'd made and then saved it, before glancing down at him.

"No I'm not sure if he's remembering, if he has he's made no indication… Yes I'll keep an eye on it, I don't want our plans to be accelerated at this stage any more than you do." She whispered as she walked back to the bed and climbed into it. "Yes, I will inform you if anything changes." She sighed. "Arrogant bitch…" She mumbled to herself.

* * *

 **Viceroy's Palace, Liath's Quarters.**

Executrix Lianth smirked as she held up a copy of the Zero mask to the light as she sat obscured by the shadows, the visor of the object shattered somehow, likely inflicted by her hand, and examined the decoration based on the mark of the collective unconscious that had been placed underneath the visor.

"Alas poor Zero, I knew him Charles." She whispered as the Emperor of Britannia snorted derisively over the secure video-phone line they had.

["If you're done paraphrasing Hamlet. You're certain the boy has no idea who you are?"] He asked warily.

"As far as I'm aware of no, he apparently remembers nothing." Liath replied, chuckling softly. "I bet twenty sterling that he repeats most of the same events of his First Black Rebellion, even if not to the letter."

["A fool's bet. Back to more serious matters, we're already running against the clock, if my bastard of a brother finds out we're working against him…"]

"V.V. is as rash as he is petty, even with the Order backing him up, he'd find dealing with Repliforce or my men to be beyond his means. Besides, the fact he's a massive 'brocon' means he won't try to kill you unless he absolutely has to." She remarked dismissively.

Charles zi Britannia sighed. ["If you believe so… Regardless, how is the… Other one…"]

"Suzaku Kururugi is as equally amnesic as Lelouch, the only one who is consciously remembering _anything_ so far is surprisingly _Bartley Asprus_ of all people as we've discovered through interrogations before we sent him off to work for Schneizel at the ART branch of ASEEC, although even if only bits and pieces. I'm not sure about anyone else at this stage but I'll keep investigating, so far as I can tell it's exposure to Geass or Code for long periods of time that's causing the memory relapse of the now averted timeline, which means I'll have to track down others at some point once the Rebellion comes to pass."

["Very well then… For the future of mankind… We-"]

"No need to remind me… That horrible day must be avoided at any cost." She stated morbidly, remembering the events that precipitated their current situation.

["Indeed… "]

"I wonder why we were pitied as such by the Unconscious... Did it view us as deluded fools who should be given a second chance, or a warning to others...?" She asked, getting no answer from Charles. "Regardless, I'll wear my new role for now, I find it more… Appropriate for this go around, even if it may turn out to be a temporary affair."

The Emperor grunted in agreement.

She shrugged. "If that'll be all, I need to get some form of sleep in…"

["I forget how time flies in C's World, I barely sleep anymore and still function perfectly well."]

"That's because if you'd sleep, the nightmares would come back."

["Touche…"] The Emperor replied as the screen went dark and Liath's chambers once again descended into darkness.

She yawned and closed her eyes before laying down in bed.

"Lelouch's ambitions, they lead only to his own suffering in the end… Although, if _that day_ repeats itself, hopefully Kururugi misses the Guren this time… That was rather irritating... Hmm..." She whispered to herself incoherently as she drifted off to sleep.

And back to memories of a slightly simpler time. Before everything went mad.

She never noticed the avatar of the Dimensional Caretaker, the physical representation of the collective unconscious, shimmer and vanish from its vantage point at the corner of the room.

* * *

 **AN: So mostly filler here, I was experimenting with how to advance the story in different ways…**

 **Let's just say Lelouch and Kallen are going to have a bit more trouble with Suzaku as he'll be a much more competent pilot than the latter here, at least up until the tail end of this arc, which is where everything goes to shit.**

 **As for who Liath is, I'm wording it to be as vague as possible, to the point that it could be any of the female characters from the 'standard' CG timeline.**

 **Time-space fuckery is weird ain't it? But 'eh, we're talking about mixing a series where an immortal green haired teenager with a potential case of mild Autophobia mind-rapes a suicidal Japanese guy through the frame of his mecha with a series that has** _ **actual time machines** _**and robots that _freeze time_ with their gun powers.**

 **But yay, now we get to go to Lake Kawaguchi.**

 **On that note, there's not much given about Kusukabe's background, so your mileage may vary really.**

 **I'm interpreting him as a potential willing martyr to give Zero what he needs after a conversation/argument about the future of the JLF with someone offscreen, the man looks too** _ **youthful**_ **compared to Todoh or Katase, possibly representing him being a closet idealist if you want to look into it that much, all we know is that he dislikes Britannians really, not an uncommon trait among Japanese fighting Britannia, and for some reason went YOLO and attacked Zero for no good reason at all after finding out Euphie was a hostage.**

 **I mean, _why_ , he was literally having a civil conversation with him and then pulled out a Katana and charged at the drop of a hat with no buildup to beyond Euphie being found out.**

 **In reality the writers probably ran into a brick wall doing the storyboard for episode 8 and went 'fuck it' let's just do this to figure out how to solve the Kusukabe issue in the easiest way possible.**

 **Back on topic, if you didn't realize it, Todoh is Thirty-Seven, and Kusukabe is** _ **Forty-Five**_ **. Yet their ages look rather the opposite on their character models, plus Todoh has the 'hardened man' look to him, while Kusukabe comes off as looking more youthful and idealistic. Not unlike how the ever-cynical Lelouch has sharper angles to his facial design compared to the more optimistic Suzaku.**

 **Make of this what you will.**

 **Especially since the Stage 0 'Entrance' LN has _Genbu_ of all selling out his homeland to Britannia, and planning to kill Nunnally to appease some random member of the Imperial family, probably the first Princess no doubt, which causes Suzaku to kill him to protect her. So full characterization even in canon is rather up in the air for anyone who isn't Charles, Marianne, C.C., Lelouch, Kallen, Suzaku, or Nunnally (and even _they_ vary depending on writer interpretation).**

 **Also the fact of Lelouch and Milly only meeting after the invasion as mentioned early in the chapter is actually canon as stated in one of the R2 audio dramas.**

 **RIP every fanfiction that had Milly at the Aries Villa, because that is indeed fanon.**

 **Oh and before I forget, Izumi actually is the name of the Yamato Alliance's leader, it's literally a 'stop paying attention and you'll miss it' line in 'Attack Cornelia' and it only gets said once.**

 **I end up going back over scenes multiple times to try and get every detail down, which I guess is more or less due to my mentality demanding a high level of perfection.**

 **As for the caretaker, just observing as is typical of that entity, some serious shit went down in the pre-reset CG timeline, I have been implying that between the Chronos Institute incident in 20XX and some as of yet unknown (to you as readers) event in a somewhat more canon R2 (relatively speaking) that the timelines have been merged at an earlier point in a reset CG timeline (or at least I hope that's been coming across), that necessitated its monitoring the main cast here.**

 **A rather unique take on the timeline reset being when _Charles_ is one of the only ones to remember what went down prior, which was, I will reiterate, some serious shit that completely borked _everything_.**


	9. Stage 9: Rescue at Kawaguchi

**AN: Woo, Lake Kawaguchi, as of the initial writing of this I** _ **still**_ **hadn't posted stage 1 of Code Reploid.**

 **Woo long term planning.**

 **Anyway, I don't have much to say initially, that may change as I post.**

 **Unless people don't review. I don't know why I should have to ask people to review but eh whatever.**

 **On that note: I have too much fun writing Milly fucking around.**

 **Also, enjoy the somewhat crappy self-made X1 style pixelart for C2's 'battle mode', would've had the visor on it but I didn't want to risk messing it up.**

* * *

 **August 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Chuo Main Line, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Shirley, Nina, and Milly watched one of the Ghettos below pass by as they their train rumbled out of the settlement, the three girls trying to keep their minds off the destitute Elevens living below. C2 sighing as she sat next to them, having been 'invited' against her will since Kallen wouldn't come, Suzaku and Lelouch were busy elsewhere and they needed a fourth to get a discount.

"I've never been outside the Tokyo settlement before, this is my first time!" Shirley said excitedly as she looked back at Milly, who was sitting across from her.

"I'm sure you wish Lelouch could've come with us. Don't you?" Milly teased, more of a statement than a question as Shirley blushed and recoiled slightly in surprise, Milly smirking as her teasing got to the other girl again while Shirley nibbled on a stick of pockey, a Japanese treat that the Britannians had co-opted as a luxury item.

"Don't be so shy! Tonight, we can stay up all night talking. Let's tell eachother which boys we like from school?"

"Then you'll probably have a lot to talk about, right _Miss President_?" Shirley jabbed with a deadpan expression on her face, unamused by Milly's antics this time.

"Who can say?" Milly said as she glanced at Nina as the train sounded its horn before entering the tunnel leading through the outer wall of the Settlement area.

Nina gasped as the darkness set in, C2's eyes adjusting automatically as the train's interior lighting ramped up.

Milly leaned over and gently took one Nina's hands. "Nina, it's alright. Lake Kawaguchi regularly sees a lot of Britannian and foreign tourists, so security's fine. It's not the ghettos." She cooed soothingly as C2 logged that information for later.

" _Her reaction to Suzaku, to the sudden darkness, Milly mentioning the ghettos… Was Nina walking around in the ghettos and assaulted when she was younger?"_ The Reploid thought. _"Given her timid nature and her utter terror it's likely she was either beaten, sexually assaulted… Or raped…"_

Such a thought sickened her to no end and she frowned slightly, not enough for the others to notice at the least.

She'd have to question Ohgi about incidents of Britannians being assaulted for no reason and look over the available information from there before giving a list to Lelouch about this.

If his plan was to succeed they'd need to crack down on the bad eggs on the Japanese side of things as well, something that would cause a rift in their troops as to what was morally right.

"Yes but…" Nina whispered hesitantly.

"Well be with you the whole time, we won't leave your side for a second." Milly promised.

"Mmh… Thanks…" Nina said, her face brightening in response as the train exited the Settlement wall's tunnel and went into the countryside.

Shirley looked out the window, eyes wide as she looked over the countryside, something far more visually appealing than the ghettos or even the glittering soulless towers of the Settlement.

" _So, this is the outside… Where the Japanese can live somewhat less restricted by Britannia if for no other reason than lack of resources to police them effectively…"_ C2 thought as she admired the natural scenery, a far cry from the concrete, glass, and steel she was used to.

She was still irritated Lelouch didn't give Milly an excuse for why she shouldn't go as well even if she enjoyed the scenery.

Instead he'd said. _"Socializing will be good for you, you're too stuck up for your own good sometimes."_

This was revenge for letting Milly wake him up with an airhorn yesterday wasn't it…

"Petty bastard…" She mumbled.

"What was that?" Milly asked, leaning in uncomfortably close to her face.

"Nothing… Uh… Personal space…?"

"I don't know the meaning of that." She crooned softly. "On the topic of boys, you seemed pretty interested in that Maverick Hunter, X I think it was?."

C2 glanced away, a bit too hastily and thus setting off Milly's hunting instincts as she pressed herself against the Reploid, Shirley squawking indignantly as the student council president moved her face so close to C2 that the Reploid's sensors could feel her breath on her flextanium skin, her face flushed red out of embarrassment as it began venting a small amount of heat from her reactor, while to Nina and Shirley it looked like she was about to _kiss_ the Reploid. "I don't know what you're talking about..." She denied nervously.

"I think you do have a crush on him. Or maybe you swing another way? You pretty little thing." She whispered softly into the Reploid's audio receptor, leaving an overheating C2 sputtering and limp in her seat, the hapless Reploid attempting to process the situation as Milly pulled away and joyfully grabbed a chip from one of the snack tubes.

"What… Just… Happened…" Shirley asked incredulously.

"I've still got it!" Milly chirped as she ate another chip while the verdant haired Reploid rebooted next to her.

* * *

 **August 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Parking Garage 944-07B, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Ohgi opened the door to the vehicle that Zero asked him and the other members of the now enlarged Kozuki group to meet him at.

="What're you waiting for? Come in. As of now this place will be our hideout."= Zero stated as he reclined on a couch on the far wall.

"So, think joining up with us is a good idea?" Ohgi asked as he and the others filed in, Izumi and the other former Yamato Alliance members glancing away awkwardly as they entered.

="Yes, we're comrades after all."= Zero stated calmly without bringing up Saitama, C2 and Ohgi having assured him that the former Yamato Alliance members who'd joined the Kozuki group had realized the enormity of their error in breaking their formations, although she had noted that the 501st and Repliforce would've slaughtered them if it came down to it, so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.

"Holy cow… So, what is this huh…" Tamaki breathed in wonder at the luxury of the vehicle.

"Do you mind if I ask how you came by this?" Ohgi asked, wary of whether or not the vehicle was stolen and thus on a watch list for law enforcement.

="It was gifted for our use by a rather libertine nobleman who indulges my requests."= Zero replied.

He'd been surprised to find out that the individual who offered it to him had been none other than Baron Andrew Stadtfeld, who'd in turn acquired it at auction from a deceased Baronet's son who'd went bankrupt after blowing most of his inheritance on hookers, gambling, and expensive liquor.

He hadn't even needed to use Geass to acquire it as Baron Stadtfeld had been discreetly funding the Kozuki group for some time in lieu of resources from Kyoto, something that surprised him as it meant he was aware his children were part of it.

Then again it shouldn't be surprising given they were able to support a working Glasgow prior to Shinjuku in addition to at least one MR-1 unit, even the Blood of the Samurai didn't have any Knightmares and they were affiliates of the JLF.

"Who?" Kallen asked, wondering why a Britannian would give it to a known terrorist.

="I'm not at liberty to disclose, he requested I not identify him to you in order to protect his identity in the event any of us were captured."=

"It's huge!" Yoshida said as he and one of the others inspected the staircase. "Check it out it's got a second story!"

"Nobody would expect us in something like _this_ , they'd be anticipating stolen semi-trucks or vans." Inoue observed she glanced around.

"It's even got a TV!" Minami noted as he picked up the remote and turned the television on after plopping himself onto the couch.

["How're things looking at the scene?"] An anchorman asked as a reporter stood in front of a camera showing the Lake Kawaguchi hotel, with two of the three bridges raised in the background.

"What's this…" Kallen asked as she and the others began clustering around the TV set.

["I'm here at the Lake Kawaguchi hotel and convention center, the hotel jackers have identified themselves as members of the Japan Liberation Front."] The reporter said as the camera zoomed in to show movement on the artificial island, some AA vehicles, anti-armor units, a few APCs, and several Burais in JLF markings surrounding the hotel.

"Huh?" Tamaki whispered, mouth dropping open.

"What's happening?" Ohgi asked as he stepped closer.

["Members of the Britannian delegation of the Sakuradite Allocation Committee, most notably Chairman James Reardon, were taken hostage earlier today, as were numerous Britannian tourists and hotel employees. This footage was taken by the perpetrators, in it, you can see Chairman James, near what appears to be several students."] The reporter said as the broadcast switched to a storage room where the hostages were being kept, surrounded by armed JLF soldiers.

Kallen's eyes widened as she saw Shirley, Nina, and Milly hostage. "From the student council…" She breathed.

Zero's mask titled upwards as Lelouch began to pay more attention to the broadcast.

["The leader of the terrorists has identified himself as Lieutenant Colonel Josui Kusukabe of the defunct Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces, a statement corroborated by foreign officials and tourists who have been released by the JLF alongside the numerous Elevens who were also employed by the hotel following the takeover."]

* * *

 **August 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lake Kawaguchi Area, Area 11.**

"High-end Natural Sakuradite, a vital strategic resource, is a critical component in the creation of extremely high-powered room temperature superconductors and in strengthening certain materials, these properties cannot be properly utilized by artificial Sakuradite or those of lower grades, which are largely limited to civil purposes and the creation of military coilarms due to the lower quality." The Hi-TV reporter stated as Diethard watched her, glancing over at the hotel. "Distribution of the supply direct affects the balance of global power. Area 11 is the current top producer of the high-end Natural Sakuradite, and produces up to seventy percent of the total accessible global supply using current extraction methods."

The reporter took a short breath before continuing. "Here at the annual meeting of Sakuradite producing nations it will be determined how the supply of this vital resource will be distributed among the world's nations and at what price rates. It's no exaggeration to say that the outcome of each conference since the invasion determines the global balance of power between Britannia and the other supernational blocs." The woman stated as a pair of tanks rumbled past her and her crew, turrets trained towards the hotel. "It is believed the terrorists are using world interest to their advantage by carrying out this violent hotel takeover after distracting most of the security contingent with a false Maverick sighting."

* * *

 **Lake Kawaguchi Hotel.**

Kusukabe put on his best act, using his Kubuki acting skills from his junior officer days to his advantage as the hardline men and women of the JLF he managed to gather surrounded them. "I am Colonel Kusukabe of the Japan Liberation Front, this stand we're taking is for the freedom Japan and our countrymen. None of you may be soldiers but you're still Britannians, the people who oppress us Japanese because you are the 'glorious conquering race' and we are the conquered." He stated calmly. "Sit still and keep your mouths shut unless you need to utilize the restroom and you'll be fine, attempt anything and you shall pay the price for such a foolhardy action." He warned as he turned and left, leaving the hostages there.

" _I hate this, I'm a soldier not some spook bastard who thinks this is acceptable…"_ He thought as he walked out, remembering the utterly terrified look in that one student's eyes, he knew instinctively that she was _afraid_ of them _not_ because they were armed terrorists, but because they were armed _Japanese_ terrorists.

" _I have no choice but to continue onwards from here… May the gods have mercy on my soul for what I'm planning to do…"_ He thought as he turned to his subordinates. "Find out any dirt you can on the people here, have they abused any of our countrymen, corruption, scandals, anything." He ordered.

"Sir?" One of his men asked.

"I'd rather execute a guilty man first if it comes down to it. Preferably before Oe takes matters into his own hands." The Colonel explained.

"At once sir."

* * *

 **August 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"So they've made their move…" Tamaki said as they watched the situation unfold as Maverick Hunter units moved in to surround the hotel as well, including a unit from the 6th Maritime Corps.

"They're easily the biggest and most organized anti-Britannian force in Japan, and now their pride is hurt…" Ohgi replied.

"Because of us?" Minami asked as he sat there, hunched over in contemplation.

"Maybe." Ohgi replied.

"This is going to end badly." Izumi whispered as he and Suzue, another of the former Yamato Alliance members watched from near where Zero was now standing, the young woman nodding in agreement.

"I don't know whether to feel happy or sad about that, because every last one of them is going to end up dead." Sugamiya said bluntly as Zero picked up his phone and checked the caller ID.

RIVALZ.

="Rivalz?"= Lelouch whispered under his breath as he rejected the call, a tear rolling down his face as he considered how hopeless the situation seemed. _"I know but… Wait a second… C2 isn't in any of those shots of the hostages, and I doubt Milly would willingly let her leave the hotel alone before the hijacking… Which means…"_ A small grin formed on his face as he realized he had a pawn on the enemy's side of the board whom could become a _queen_ with but an order.

 _"Time to formulate a plan."_

* * *

 **G-1 Mobile Command Base,** _ **HIMLS Prince Lelouch**_ **. Lake Kawaguchi, Area 11.**

"All bridges except the primary one have been raised and their landside control stations destroyed, our attempted approaches from the air and water have been repelled with at least twenty men killed in action and half a dozen more wounded." One of Cornelia's staff officers reported as screens showed the mentioned subjects, including the loss of a UV-1 transport VTOL and an amphibious team being gunned down.

"Under other circumstances we would've attempted to clear the area around the hotel's base with precision airstrikes or sniper attacks from our Knightmares while 'Wild Weasel' units handle the air defenses. However there are no usable vantage points nearby and overuse of anti-armor munitions may destabilize the base of the hotel if they miss the intended targets. Additionally they could blow the final bridge if they feel threatened enough." He added.

"There's only one final route that will allow us to enter the hotel, the main utilities tunnel running directly underneath the lake to a storage room under the building, since the tunnel was built to discreetly accommodate supply deliveries via semi-truck we're about to probe it as well to ensure it is clear, using some Glasgows refitted as unmanned drones to preserve the lives of our troops following the previous incidents where we underestimated our opponent's capabilities."

Cornelia nodded at him as they watched a live feed of the Glasgow drones being lowered into the tunnel, all three machines soon rolling forward at combat speed.

["Situation nominal."] One of the controllers reported from a command APC.

["Enemy is using Knightmares, at least two units, open the formation."] Another said.

["Roger."]

There was a bright flash then the feeds from all three Glasgows died.

["GLASGOWS DESTROYED!"]

["What was that?!"]

["Confirmed! It's a battleship grade linear cannon converted into a mobile platform using Knightmares!"] One of the operators finally reported.

"Damnit!" Someone snarled. "Now we'll never break through!"

"What do we do now?! If we release the political prisoners as they demand…!" Someone else shouted.

"We can't show _weakness_ to terrorists!" Cornelia shouted, raising her voice to silence the panic.

Liath and Colonel were nowhere near, the former off on Kamine Island for some reason with her troops and the latter investigating the Russian Mob's drug trafficking operations in Sapporo. And as much as Cornelia hated to admit it, she could use the confidence boost having the two of them around gave her.

Guilford leaned in. "But Princess Euphemia…" He whispered.

"Yes I know…" Cornelia replied as Darlton turned to face her.

"Thus far it appears they haven't discovered that, our snipers have noticed movement in several of the outer rooms, indicating they're sweeping the hotel for something and thus are likely unable to pay much attention to who's who among the hostages at this time. But if they learn that Princess Euphemia is among them, they'll undoubtedly use her as a bargaining chip against us, but we should have some time since she went there as an unlisted observer and thus her name wouldn't be on the register of the hotel."

"What do you think they're looking for?" Cornelia asked, now interested in this unusual activity.

"It appears that two Reploids escaped the sweep." Darlton reported.

"I didn't think the Lake Kawaguchi Hotel had Reploids on its staff." Cornelia stated, raising an eyebrow.

"It doesn't, we've ID'd one as the Maverick Hunter, X, who stayed behind for some reason while the rest of the security detachment went after the fake Maverick. And the other appears to be listed among the guests and was initially overlooked as a result, potentially they thought it was a clerical error since the name is literally just one letter and one number." He posited.

Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "I see, get me the 17th Elite unit, I want to talk to Sigma." She ordered.

"Yes your highness!"

* * *

Suzaku, Lloyd and Cecile watched helplessly from the shoreside where the ASEEC dispatch truck had been parked.

"Can't the special corps offer any assistance with the rescue operation?" He asked nervously.

"I've already asked them but we're an irregular unit lying outside the chain of command, and with Liath and Colonel being elsewhere we can't convince Cornelia to send us in." Lloyd replied as he tossed a stone across the lake, watching it skip briefly before sinking.

"She doesn't trust an Eleven to run the operation…" Suzaku said bluntly.

"Mmhm, she's rather discriminatory when it comes to Elevens, she tolerates most numbers to a degree but she absolutely refuses to allow Elevens any leeway when it comes down to it." Lloyd stated as he picked up another stone.

Suzaku's eyes widened briefly as he realized why that was the case. _"Lelouch and Nunnally…"_ Everything suddenly made sense to him now about Cornelia's hostility towards the Japanese in general and _him_ in particular. "So the Japanese aren't being accepted enough into the structure of the Britannian armed forces in Area 11…"

"If that's the case, then why even have an Honorary Britannian system here?" Cecile asked.

"It's simple, to placate the masses." Lloyd informed her as he leaned back. "People will never gain the will to fight if they have no practical reason to fight in the first place. Plus it divides the numbers into the supposed 'patriots' and the 'traitors' who 'suck up' to the occupying power."

Suzaku frowned and glanced back at the hotel.

* * *

Inside the hotel X panted as evaded the latest patrol, hearing them talk about how the search was a waste of time.

" _Just keep moving, just keep moving…"_

A third set of footsteps approached, indicating another JLF soldier.

"Find her Gensi?" One of the soldiers, a woman given the voice asked the newcomer.

" _Her?"_ X thought as he raised his buster.

"No, but that Reploid can't have gone far, we've got total control of the security system now so we'll find her if she enters a hallway or stairwell." Gensi said as the three of them marched away.

" _Damn… Looks like I'm traversing the exterior then… Hopefully the guards aren't looking at those angles…"_ X thought as he opened the sliding door and looked over to the room to the right, its balcony separated only by a short gap, which discouraged most people from trying to cross it.

Damn his worries about the Maverick sighting being a diversion being correct for once.

X carefully and quickly traversed the gap without using his boosters or apogee motors, frowning as he checked the door to the room.

"Damnit… Of course it's locked, why wouldn't it be…" He muttered in exasperation.

He glanced down over the edge of the balcony, watching the JLF exterior troops hold steady below him, keeping their weapons trained down the length of the sole usable bridge towards the Britannian troops massed on the shoreline.

"Right… Doors are electronically locked and linked to an RFID chip in the card keys, with two sets usable by the doors, one for the specific room and the master code which can unlock any door and was issued to employees. If I can match the frequency of the master code I can get in…" He adjusted his backup IFF transmitter for a couple minutes until the door unlocked, opening the slider and walking inside quietly before closing it again.

["X, do you copy."] Iris asked as her voice came over the radio.

X hit his commlink. "I copy…" He whispered as he ducked behind a bed, keeping an ear out for any patrols.

["There's a civilian Reploid by the name of C2 loose in the tower with you, sniper teams haven't spotted her from any angle so she may be on the opposite side of the building from you."]

"C2? She's here?" X whispered as he heard footfalls outside, alongside radio chatter, indicating a JLF soldier or two on patrol, X waiting until he was sure whoever it was had passed before speaking up again.

"I can't keep talking, switch to text comms for now, will radio when I'm clear."

["Roger."] Iris replied as X peered through the door's peephole before heading back outside.

Closing the door behind him he hopped over the next gap and into a hotel room, likely the one occupied by those three girls who'd been taken hostage given the amount of clothing and snacks littered about.

He raised his buster and carefully took a few steps into the room after unlocking the slider door.

"Iris? Do you copy?" He whispered, getting nothing over comms but static, they'd probably spotted him on security footage and turned on jammers to prevent him from being used as a beacon to teleport in Britannian Reploid troops via transerver with minimal risk of transport errors.

Frowning, he tensed up and glanced around.

"Nothing here." He whispered, sighing with relief before something grabbed his leg, nearly causing him to shoot the closest bed on reflex.

He was glad he didn't because C2 was underneath it.

"What the hell are you doing here!" He hissed softly as he shut the slider door and knelt down next to her.

"I returned to the room, this place is so messy they'd never be able to tell if I'd come back or not." She replied as X peered over the bed to check for any signs that they were being monitored.

Once the brief pause was passed, X looked back at C2.

"How'd you evade the patrols?" He asked as he glanced down at her.

She just shrugged in response as she glanced about. "They're all idiots apparently. Anyway I overheard some of them mention Tadasu Oe, the prime suspect in several unsolved murders of Britannians and Honorary Britannians, being Kusukabe's second in command."

That caught X by surprise, he'd reviewed Kusukabe's military records before while on desk duty once and found that the man was quite capable as an officer, the fact he'd taken the hotel without a shot being fired and then held it in the face of Britannian infiltration attempts was a clear indicator of his skill at deploying forces in a defensive posture.

 _"So why bring a psychopath like Oe… A man who was on the verge of being kicked out of the SDF before Britannia made that point moot..."_ He thought.

" _Kusukabe wishes to join up with Zero, that's why he's taking a seemingly passive posture in leading the JLF troops beyond managing the defenses and letting Oe handle other things, so he can be the scapegoat. If Lelouch accepts him he and his inner circle of moderate soldiers live and the rest die, getting rid of some of the worst in the JLF in the process while giving Lelouch resources and a PR coup at the cost of the greater JLF_ and _Britannia."_ C2 thought as she watched X contemplate the information she'd told him.

She had no secure way to contact Lelouch at the moment but had managed to get some of her thoughts off to him before the jamming had gone up, since it was the only theory that made sense, if Cornelia wanted to storm the Hotel with an air assault the pitiful AA defenses couldn't hope to stop her battle hardened troops, especially if they used long range anti-material guns to take down the SPAA.

Really all she could do now was wait for Lelouch, going battle mode would probably cause the JLF troops to panic and start killing hostages despite Kusukabe's orders.

"So what do we do now? Just bunker up here?" She asked as X frowned and tapped his comms again, still only static and thus confirming the jamming theory.

He sighed and sat down next to her. "Yeah, I guess so…" X said as he closed his eyes.

"So, now what? You wanna make out or something to pass the time?" She snarked before receiving a bop to the head for her efforts. "Talking it is then, what've you been doing since I last saw you?"

"Well…" He began.

* * *

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch watched live media coverage of the hostage crisis on his laptop as the others chattered idly about stowing supplies.

["Sir, did your daughter appear to be in any distress? Is there anything you want to say to the channel?"] A reporter asked Joseph Fenette as the distraught looking man leaned into the mics, holding tears back as he spoke.

["She was only _sightseeing_! Shirley is still a student, but these _criminals_ act indiscriminately! Savages… I want to know if Shir… I want to know if my _daughter_ is alright! She hasn't done _anything_ wrong!"]

Lelouch frowned as he watched the broadcast, tuning out the reporter's words for the most part.

" _We need to organize before we fight Britannia again, it's too soon and we're not even close to being ready, I barely managed to get the first batch of our infantry equipment ready in time as it is, but we can't just ignore this either… C2 sent a message stating that_ _she believes Kusukabe wishes to join us, or at least I think she did given the jamming, but in a roundabout manner that I don't entirely approve of… Still, if he's serious, then he's throwing the hardline troops he brought to the wolves and handing us a sizeable amount of now ex-JLF troops, supplies, and equipment… And a free PR coup at the cost of the Japan Liberation Front. It's almost too good to be true."_ He thought, wisely choosing to avoid trusting Kusukabe's intentions as being entirely pure.

" _But knowing Cornelia we'll never get the chance, she'll sacrifice the… Wait, why hasn't Cornelia just blown the building apart with artillery by now or stormed it with a full air assault? She's offered to let them live if they surrender, but nothing after that."_ His eyes widened as he slowly realized what was going on, he hadn't seen the Sub-Viceory _at all_ in the impromptu press conference Cornelia had held at the site. But where could Euphemia be then?

He heard light footsteps, recognizing them as Kallen's.

"Zero… What'll happen to the hostages?" She asked, nervous about the fate of the student council members.

He muted the footage and spoke up. ="Eventually, there'll be no reason for those Britannians to be kept alive, and the JLF will execute all of them, which will precipitate their own destruction."= Zero stated bluntly, hiding his own anguish at the thought of three close friends being terminated.

"Yeah… I'm sure you're right…" She admitted in defeat, her hope that it would be resolved with minimal bloodshed drained away by reality as Ohgi walked in.

"Hey Zero, we found some uniforms and body armor in with the supplies, should I hand them out to everyone, as far as gear goes looks pretty hip without compromising protection, but we're just a bunch of resistance fighters…"

Zero suddenly turned to face them. ="Wrong!"= He said, causing Kallen and Ohgi to jolt slightly. ="We're _not_ a resistance group. Is that clear?"= He explained.

"Well then what are we?" Ohgi asked as Zero stood up a hand on his hip.

="What we are, what we're trying to be… Are Knights for _Justice!_ "= He exclaimed as his right arm shot up to the side and grasped the air, as if clutching the very concept of justice itself as his own.

"Knights for justice…?" Ohgi asked as he looked at Kallen.

="Yes, and our objective is to save the hostages _and_ Kusukabe's group of moderates from the hardline JLF soldiers led by Tadasu Oe."=

"Wait, you think Oe the butcher is behind this?!" Kallen gasped.

="Indeed I recognized him in one of the broadcasts sent out by the JLF, it's impossible to control a man like him even with a gun to his head, put enough like minded people in the same group and it's inevitable that Kusukabe will lose control of the situation, I believe he intended to join us by making a stand against Britannia's abuse of Japan's natural resources but had his hand forced by most of his subordinates."= Zero explained, a partial lie but one that would allow him to vindicate Kusukabe should C2's suspicions prove true.

He was nothing if not adaptable afterall.

Ohgi and Kallen glanced at eachother but accepted his explanation.

="Make course for Lake Kawaguchi at once!"= Zero ordered as Ohgi and Kallen nodded.

"Right." They responded in unison.

* * *

 **Lake Kawaguchi resort area, Area 11.**

Zero frowned as he and Vile stood near the ASEEC trailer while Sigma met with Cornelia in the G-1 _Prince Lelouch_.

"Ugh, this is so _boring_." Vile grumbled as he made test calculations on his firing arcs to see if he could knock out one of the armored vehicles or Burais on the hotel grounds with the first shot of a salvo.

"We can't act rashly, Vile, that's why Sigma has you on such a short leash today, because you'll just get all the hostages killed and the operation will be a bust." Zero explained as he waited for orders and listened to radio chatter between command units, recon patrols, security detachments and overwatch sniper teams.

Vile snorted and crossed his arms. "Oh I doubt all of them will still be alive when we move in."

Zero glanced at him. "Why do you say that?"

Vile pointed at the hotel. "Because they're tossing someone off the roof." He replied with all the tact of a person watching someone step on a spider.

Zero and several others nearby turned to look at the hotel as a Britannian man fell to his death while the radio chattered away about the changing situation.

He heard Suzaku, sitting in the cockpit of the Lancelot as it underwent diagnostics, begin screaming.

" **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!** "

" _This just got even more tense…"_ The Maverick Hunter thought, his eyes wide as he clenched his fists.

* * *

Kusukabe's mouth dropped in shock as he watched the shadow of a body pass by the window. "That **idiot**! We needed more time to find someone who was actually guilty of something, and he just chose someone at random!" He sighed and sat back on the couch in his impromptu HQ in resignation.

"Sir…?" One of the more moderate soldiers asked hesitantly.

"Get the camera rolling… Oe's forced our hand…" He admitted in defeat.

* * *

On the bridge of the _Prince Lelouch_ Cornelia clenched her fists as she finished watching Kusukabe's message before storming out, followed by Darlton, Sigma, and Guilford.

"This is their warning? Either they're more barbaric than we gave them credit for, or he's not in total control of the situation despite his supposed confidence." Darlton stated as they headed down a corridor towards the Knightmare bay.

"For now, we could negotiate just to get the women and children out-" Guilford suggested before being cut off by Cornelia.

"Forget it! Give into their conditions even once and you're simply legitimizing terrorism!" She replied heatedly. "Moreover, if they discover Euphemia they'll make demands I couldn't even hope to fulfill even if _wanted_ to."

"So do we use force then?" Darlton asked as they continued walking.

"We would pursue that course of action _after_ we secure the safety of Princess Euphemia." Guilford stated while Sigma remained silent.

Cornelia grit her teeth as they walked past a corridor.

"Unfortunately we have no way of contacting X to notify him of the changing situation due to the local jamming and our stealth specialists in the 0th unit won't arrive in Area 11 in time either." Sigma noted with mild resignation in his voice.

" _Euphie… I…"_

"Viceroy!" A crewman shouted as he rushed into the transit hallway, causing the four to turn and look at him. "It's Zero! We've received a message from Zero!"

Nobody noticed the brief flash of a smirk on the Maverick Hunter commander's face.

* * *

Diethard turned to face on of his co-workers as he was interrupted mid-cast as he tried to fish to pass the time. "What do you mean van three was _stolen_ by Zero!? What the hell was Gibson doing all the while?!" He demanded of the man.

"He said that when he realized what was happening, it was too late…"

"Huh… Then where's van three now?" Diethard asked, figuring he might as well tell the network what happened to it.

"… Driving straight towards the Military blockade…" His co-worker admitted.

Diethard's mouth opened slightly in response.

* * *

Spotlights illuminated Hi-TV van three as it approached the blockade at the land end of the main bridge, Britannian troops, armor, ride armors and knightmares surrounding the sides of the road as it drew closer.

["We've confirmed it's Zero. Should we open fire?"] A junior officer requested as the van passed by their unit.

["No, just stand by, we'll capture him after he's surrounded."] Another officer responded.

["Roger."]

* * *

Inside the van's cab, Kallen and Ohgi glanced around nervously as they looked at the number of troops surrounding them, wearing their new uniforms and body armor, complete with helmets utilizing ballistic mandible guards with integrated radio inputs, ear protector comm headsets, and translucent pinkish-purple ballistic goggles. As were the others in the back, the full extent of the equipment they had was concerning to them, but Zero had explained it added to an air of legitimacy regarding them not being mere 'resistance fighters' even if he'd told them nothing about the costs.

"Man… When Zero went off about justice earlier… What exactly do you think he meant…?" Ohgi asked as the crotch of another Sutherland passed Kallen's window.

"Don't know, but we may die before we ever find out. All of our escape routes are cut off." She replied.

"I'm just wondering why we didn't just use that other vehicle." Yoshida said from the back.

"Oh so you want the whole world to know where we 'hang out'?" Sugamiya asked sarcastically.

"He's got a point. There's a reason we left the ex-Yamato Alliance guys to guard it." Minami added as he fiddled with an assault rifle, making sure it was operational.

"I still don't know about this 'Zero' person." Inoue said. "You guys all sure we should really keep trusting him? Even after all he's done for us I just don't know..."

"That's why I said he looks shifty to me. Especially with how he got all this gear that would make the JLF salivate in jealously." Tamaki responded before smacking his fist into his palm. "But if anything goes wrong I'll do something about it." He boasted, an empty promise given that they all figured Zero's Reploid ally would probably snap him in half like a twig if he tried anything.

The van continued approaching the bridge before Cornelia's Gloucester, backed by two other units, presumably her Royal Guard, although they boasted a different color scheme than standard, cut them off as Britannian Troops, SWAT teams, Knightpolice and Maverick Hunters surrounded them.

The van stopped as Lelouch held steady in his costume. _"Cornelia… Much as I'd love to get you back right here and now, you're more useful to me alive. If you do what I predict, I won't need to use my Geass."_ He thought as he watched Cornelia open her hatch and stand up on her seat.

"Well, well, we meet again Zero. Are you a member of the Japan Liberation Front or perhaps you intend to help us? Regardless, our concerns take priority over yours at this moment. So for the death of my half-brother Clovis la Britannia I shall take my revenge _right here_!" She declared before drawing her ceremonial coil-longpistol and pointing it at the masked vigilante before her, flicking the safety off in the process.

="Cornelia! Whom would you choose?"= Zero asked, causing her to hesitate in pulling the trigger. ="Clovis, who is _dead_. Or Euphemia, who is _alive_?"=

 _That_ got a reaction, her eyes dilating in shock as she tried to avoid conveying her surprise.

" _My suspicion's confirmed, the first task at hand is completed… You haven't changed a_ bit _when it comes to Euphemia dear sister."_ Lelouch thought smugly. _"You've always doted on sweet little Euphie, that's why you won't take aggressive action so long as she's in the line of fire. Your emotions are getting in the way."_

He had an odd feeling C2 would've called him a hypocrite if he told her that since both of them knew he'd abandon everything at the mere instant something went wrong with Nunnally.

Cornelia shook angrily, wondering what Zero's game was as she waited for his next move.

="It's within my power to save Eupehmia for you."= He stated calmly.

"What do you mean, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Cornelia denied, knowing that if the JLF were watching the broadcasts they might hear this and then everything would be for _nothing_.

="I said that I am able to _rescue_ her!"= He repeated.

* * *

Kusukabe frowned as he and his moderate soldiers were stripped of their weapons by Oe's troops at gunpoint.

"Damn you Oe…"

"You thought too little of me Kusukabe… I know for a fact that you intended to get us fragged by the Britannians because we didn't fit in with either your plans or those of the main JLF." Oe said condescendingly. "Take them away and put them with the hostages." He ordered as some of his troops led Kusukabe's and his men away. "I'll deal with Zero personally."

" **Bastard!** " Kusukabe hissed as he was shoved out of the room.

"And put our security troops on high alert, tell them to shoot _anyone_ they see running around whom they don't immediately recognize as one of ours! Zero'll probably be having his little band of merry friends set demolition charges on the supports!"

"Sir!"

Oe picked up a handset. "Courtyard team. Let them through when they approach." He stated, grinning psychotically.

["Roger."]

* * *

As Kusukabe and his men were led into the storeroom where the hostages were being kept, the Britannians tensed up as they realized that the situation just got a lot more complicated now that the JLF had taken members of their own 'side' hostage as well.

Shoving the moderates to the ground, the troops assigned to move them left the room as Kusukabe sighed in defeat, his plans now entirely reliant on Zero saving the lot of them from Oe.

" _I should've known that bastard was craftier than I gave him credit for, he managed to outwit Todoh and Katase at the inquiry when he joined back up with us after all…"_

* * *

["Attention all forces, let Zero pass!"]

Cornelia and her guards had moved aside, the van passing them on its way to the bridge as Lelouch stood on its roof, his smug grin hidden behind his mask.

As the gates opened, the two Burais and the four JLF soldiers standing guard stepped aside to let them pass into the courtyard, anti-armor units tracking them from afar. _"All Preliminary tasks have been completed. Now onto the main operation."_

" _I can only think of three scenarios at this point, either Kusukabe is in complete control of the situation, he has lost partial control but remains in overall command, or he's been sacked by the hardliners and is now a hostage as well with his inner circle of troops."_ Lelouch thought as the van crossed the bridge. _"If it is the last solution then we'll certainly encounter resistance, which may necessitate C2 overtly acting…"_

The van passed into the courtyard as Lelouch glanced around warily at the defenses, he assumed most of them would be concentrated either here in the courtyard, on the ground floor, on the roof, underground in the tunnel, and on the floor the hostages were being kept.

Naturally this would be problematic to deal with.

The van stopped as a third Burai moved to block them. ["Zero! Our leader wishes to speak with you!"] The pilot stated over his frame's loudspeakers.

" _So it's scenario three then, if Kusukabe was still in charge they would've clarified his name and rank to me."_ Lelouch thought grimly.

="Very well then. Let us park first bef-"=

["You're all to dismount _immediately_ and head to the men at the door, no funny business!"] The Burai pilot responded without hesitation.

" _Damn… Oe's a crafty bastard if he's figured out my intentions… I'll need to remove him from play permanently... Hopefully C2's plan will work…"_ He thought nervously, having received a suggestion to utilize one of her archived power sets for the mission.

="Very well then."= Zero stated as he climbed down from the roof and walked over to the entrance, Kallen and Ohgi tensing up nervously before following him out of the vehicle with the rest.

But not before Lelouch activated his Geass and used it on the guards at the door.

* * *

"Listen, as much as I want to continue talking to you about the virtues of the praying mantis… I need to do something so stay here okay? I'm going up to the roof to try and disable the jammers so we can resolve this." X said, eliciting a nod from her before he left the room and began climbing the exterior of the hotel.

C2 glanced around, making sure X was clear before activating her armor and looking through the mental data of stealth based abilities.

"No… No… No… I don't even... No... No... Wait, here you are…"

[DWN-024. SHADOW MAN. SPECIAL WEAPON: SHADOW BLADE.] The readout scrolling over her field of view informed her. [WARNING. WEAPON AND ARMOR MATERIAL COMPOSITION UNKNOWN. BELIEVED TO BE EXTRATERRESTRIAL IN ORIGIN. SEE ATTACHMENT FILE 09-28-1990 SUBSECTION AC MMI-42.]

She filed that note for later as she mentally commanded the readout to vanish from her vision before loading the power set, feeling a rush of _something_ that she hadn't gotten when she'd loaded the Air Man power set.

She chalked it up to her systems being on the fritz at the time.

She generated a _hira_ type shuriken and tossed it between her hands idly before throwing it at the cable box of a TV that was left running by the JLF as a method of determining whether someone was still in the room, damaging it and rendering it inoperable.

And it was then she noticed the connected television itself suddenly frazzled out.

"Huh. Neat, just like how large quantities of activated high-grade Sakuradite affects Reploids in close proximity…"

She turned out the lights in the room and merged into the shadows, smirking as she figured out a plan, but first, she needed to recon the building's storerooms.

* * *

"Viceroy, what're we doing?" Darlton asked Cornelia, confused by her actions.

"I believe that by letting Zero go in, we can buy some time before the next hostage is executed. So this is our chance, we can hit them both at the same time." She said smugly as she watched from afar.

* * *

Lloyd grinned with seemingly ecstatic glee as he received a text only message from Cornelia's Gloucester.

"Wonderful! I want to thank you for that _lovely_ order!" He chuckled as he turned to face Suzaku and Cecile. "They've said you got the green light Lancelot, you've got orders to charge right down the throat of that linear cannon in the tunnel!"

"Wait a minute, you mean they're using him as a decoy to make an opening for them!?" Cecile asked, shocked by the callousness.

"Yep, Lancelot is the only unit that has any hope of survival at such a task, even the Royal Guard would be cut down by the cannon before they got within their own firing range." Lloyd replied candidly with a shrug.

"He's right Miss Cecile…" Suzaku added. "Lancelot is the only Knightmare on hand that can do it. I'm ready, please. Let me do it." He requested. "If Lancelot and I are needed. If we can give the hostages an opportunity to be saved… Then I'll do it. Even if it means being a decoy."

* * *

Inside the hotel, Kallen, Ohgi, and the others waited on the ground floor after Zero was ushered away from them up the elevator, surrounded by JLF soldiers, their hands having been zip-tied after Zero was out of sight.

"We're screwed." Tamaki whispered as the men and women around them twitched idly, waiting for an excuse or order to wipe their 'guests' out.

"I say we've wasted enough time." One of the JLF soldiers finally said. "Oe won't mind if we cut these lot down."

"Right." Another said as they aimed their weapons.

" _No… Not like this…"_ Kallen thought as her eyes widened in horror.

And then the lights died and the room plunged into near total darkness.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

"STAY CALM AND GIVE ME A STATUS REPORT!"

Kallen heard the faint clatter of a sword being drawn.

" _URK-_ "

There was a thump as a body hit the ground.

"SERGEANT KOBAYASHI!"

"FIRE AT WILL, FIRE AT _HAAKKK-_ " Someone shouted as gunfire flashed from the weapons of remaining JLF soldiers as they fired wildly into the darkness, Kallen and the others diving for cover as they caught a glimpse of another figure that the JLF were attempting to track through the brief flashes of light, Kallen thanking her helmet for the noise protection and the visor otherwise she might've gone deaf and blind from the gunfire as bullets spewed wildly through the air.

None of them had any idea what the hell was going on.

" _GLAAAK-_ "

" _GHUULK-_ "

"OHGODOHGODOHGOD! _HURRK_ -"

"BASTARD SHOW YOURSEL _lllggggkkkkk_ -"

"I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE! AAAHHG _gggghhhhhlllkkk_ -"

Kallen opened her eyes as the lights came back on, Zero's Reploid associate, Q2, standing there holding a reddened Katana as the JLF soldiers that had surrounded them lay dead in pools of their own blood, each one having their jugular cleanly cut open.

It wasn't difficult for any of them to understand _why_ the blade was now red.

Kallen also noticed her armor's color was now a dark blue with silver highlights, and boasting an odd fishnet texture on the midriff, upper legs, and biceps.

"Holy shit…" Yoshida breathed as C2 walked over and untied them quickly. "She's a fucking kunoichi!"

"A freakin' ninja!? Seriously where did Zero find her!?" Tamaki hissed as he looked around at the dead JLF soldiers before he suddenly had an assault rifle, spare ammo, and a large block of composite four plus an associated detonator shoved into his arms.

"Take these and set the charges at the assigned areas Zero told you about to destroy the support pillars." She stated.

"R… Right…" Ohgi acknowledged as C2 handed out more of the weapons and charges, plus additional ammo mags.

"What about you?" Kallen asked nervously.

"I'm going to save the Britannians and Moderate JLF guys they've taken hostage, I need some of you to meet me in storage room eight." She replied and handed them each a map of the building with marked areas before walking over to a shaded area and melding into the shadows, leaving them dumbfounded as she vanished.

"What the fuck is up with Reploids and them defying the laws of reality!" Tamaki shouted.

Nobody had a good answer for him.

* * *

Suzaku felt the Lancelot lurch as it was lowered into the tunnel. The plan was simple enough, destroy the linear cannon and the main foundation block with the VARIS, thus causing a controlled submergence of the hotel.

He frowned as he remembered Shirley's words about asking if he had free time to come with them to Lake Kawaguchi, however Lloyd had been insistent on getting the VARIS back on track, as he had no less than a half dozen testbed rifles waiting for assembly, including one earmarked for the Executrix herself.

That Lloyd's schedule may have been a saving grace for them was something he knew must have been fated.

["Mission countdown starting at T-minus twelve minutes."] Cecile informed him as he put Lancelot into a ready stance, hoping the JLF hadn't detected his descent.

If they had, it was possible they, like him, were waiting for the other to make the first move.

* * *

Nina whimpered as the hardliners kept their watch, a man patrolling past them as she squeaked. "E... Elevens…!"

That caught the man's attention and he pointed his SMG at her. "What did you just say to me you little...! We're Japanese damnit!"

Nina scurried back and held Milly close to her. "We're aware. She made a mistake, she's afraid of you." Milly said calmly.

"Well then correct her! Now damnit!" The man ordered.

Shirley began to lose her temper. "Alright, we'll correct her!" She said sourly.

"Don't speak that way to me!" The man snarled.

"Lay off them Arakawa!" One of the moderate JLF soldiers shouted.

"Shut it Shinohara before I put a round through your skull you filthy traitor!" The now identified Arakawa shouted back before grabbing Nina's arm. "The three of you, come with me now! I'll teach you a _lesson_ about respect!"

"ENOUGH!" Euphie shouted as she stood up.

The guards aimed their weapons at her as Arakawa shoved Nina to the ground. "Who the hell are you!" He demanded.

"I am Princess Eupehmia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire and sixth in line for the throne." She stated calmly, ignoring their weapons as they, and the hostages, gaped in shock. "I demand you take me to your current leader!" She requested, Kusukabe wincing slightly. "Are you alright young lady? You're not hurt correct?" She asked as she turned to address Nina, causing the latter to gasp.

"No… No… I'm fine." She replied nervously, Euphie nodding as she was led away by some of the guards.

* * *

A level below the rooftop, X poked a fiber optic camera over the lip, frowning as he spotted the guards, including a Burai unit that was bringing over a stolen Britannian anti-armor sniper rifle, X feeling a slight tingle in his sensors from the overcharged Sakuradite batteries next to it.

"Gonna be difficult given the interference… But…" He cocked his buster and prepared to begin charging it.

* * *

Zero stared down Lieutenant Oe, who smirked as he tapped his cigar against the end table he was sitting next to.

="I see, you and your troops have no intention of joining me?"=

"Certainly not, not so long as you wear that mask, take it off and reveal your face to us and I'll _consider_ it." Oe stated.

=Certainly, but before you do that, explain to me what Colonel Kusukabe intended to do here."=

"It's simple, he wanted to attract you, the bastard had a change of heart about his plans when someone visited him a few days back, I overheard them arguing about the JLF's future before he finally admitted the Liberation Front stood no chance at freeing Japan." Oe stated, his temper beginning to rise. "So for that end, he modified our initial plans, hoping to join as many of the JLF's moderate troops with you so as to back you with veteran soldiers and trained personnel to give whatever you're doing _legitimacy_ in the eyes of the Japanese people."

That surprised Lelouch, he'd found Kusukabe's change of alignment odd to say the least, especially since the man had been part of a nationalist party prior to the Invasion.

Now it made sense, someone had made him see reason, something the JLF refused to admit was the truth.

="I'm flattered to say the least. But he's correct, the JLF is fighting for a dead nation."=

"Why you!" One of Oe's subordinates snarled before the Lieutenant raised his hand to stop him from doing anything.

"Explain Zero, what do you mean by that?" He asked.

="It's simple, Japan as it was is dead, it cannot rise again in that form, not after the crushing blow its government and people suffered at the hands of Britannia."= Zero explained.

"Suppose I believe that were so. Why exactly does that make you the better choice?"

="Because I seek to build Japan anew."=

Oe simply chuckled. "And how do you propose to do that?

* * *

Suzaku exhaled softly. "ME boost ready…" He whispered as the countdown rushed towards zero.

["Lancelot! Commence mission!"] Cecile ordered as the Z-01 rushed forwards at top speed.

* * *

["Target confirmed, one enemy Knightmare Frame!"] The sensor operator of the Raikou reported.

["It's moving two to three times faster than a normal unit!"]

["So what, it'll end up just like the rest!"] The commander said haughtily. ["Fire the Raijin cannon!"] He ordered.

The great cannon discharged its shot, the canister opening and dispersing ultra-high-velocity ball bearings, all of which bore down on the Lancelot.

* * *

Suzaku grimaced and dodged after his factspheres confirmed the pattern of the shot, the Lancelot weaving through the massive shotgun blast with almost supernatural grace.

* * *

["No effect on target! He… He dodged every shot!"] The gunner reported as the crew of the Raikou began to sweat nervously.

" _What kind of monster is this… Could this be the Seventh Gen unit that Kyoto warned us about!?"_ The commander thought as the Lancelot began to approach again. ["Nevermind! Fire salvo two ASAP! It's _only_ one Knightmare!"]

* * *

Inside the hotel, Ohgi and the others continued planting their C4 blocks, activating the remote detonators which were linked to a controller that Zero had on hand.

* * *

A knock came at the door of the room Zero was meeting Oe in before Zero could explain his methodology.

"I've brought the hostage I radioed about earlier, she claims she's Princess Euphemia." A JLF soldier reported from outside.

Lelouch's eyes widened underneath his mask as Oe smirked.

"Well, we have no further use for you now, a shame. I might've been able to hand you over to Cornelia and kill her or one of her officers as well in the process." He said smugly as he drew the Katana he'd seized from Kusukabe. "Kill him."

The eyeport on Lelouch's mask opened in response, his Geass already active.

He gave the order.

="Die."=

* * *

["Fire!"] The Raikou's commander ordered as the unit discharged another shot, Lancelot riding up the tunnel wall to avoid it before leaping over to the other side of the narrow passage and drawing its VARIS rifle.

* * *

The Guards burst into the room after hearing gunshots, Zero shooting the point man in the shoulder, missing his heart and arteries by mere centimeters.

"Zero…" Euphie whispered in awe, gazing upon the corpses of everyone else who'd been in the room, all of them killed by _self_ _-inflicted_ wounds.

="Calm yourselves, Lieutenant Oe and his men committed suicide after realizing how meaningless their plans were."= He explained, yet another lie that marked his soul, although he didn't feel _too_ bad about this one given the circumstances.

="Euphiemia, you were willing to sacrifice yourself for the commoners, you haven't changed."= He said without thinking, Euphie's eyes widening in confusion.

* * *

C2 dropped the last of the guards holding the hostages, glancing down at the combined and very terrified group of JLF moderates and Britannians as Ohgi and Inoue entered with guns drawn, Ohgi whistling at the carnage.

"All Britannians please follow my associates to service elevator A, all JLF troops please follow me to elevator B."

Nobody protested after glancing at the amount of blood she'd just shed.

* * *

["Raikou reports that they can't hold off the enemy! Take the shot on the Viceroy now!"]

That was his cue.

X popped up and let loose a charged shot into the Burai's waist as the pilot pulled the trigger, the shock of the impact knocking the Knightmare forwards and sending the rifle's muzzle tilting downwards, the 90mm round discharging harmlessly into the water with a hypersonic crack.

* * *

Zero and Vile spotted the flash of X's buster discharging and then the streak of the sniper shot hitting the water, which was followed by the crack of the rifle itself firing shortly thereafter. The red armored hunter tapping his comms as X began exchanging fire with the rooftop troops.

"Someone tell the Viceroy that X just stopped an impromptu assassination attempt…" He sighed.

* * *

The Lancelot's Blaze Luminous flared to life, blocking the latest shot from the Raikou.

"Compared to the sim barrage during the exercises… This is nothing!" Suzaku uttered confidently as he continued advancing.

* * *

["That thing broke through salvo number five, what kind of monster is this!?"]

["Don't panic, deploy the close in defense guns and the slash harken batteries! Prepare to fire salvo number six! We'll shield this final defense with our lives!"]

* * *

The Lancelot deflected the incoming fire from the Raikou's arm guns and cleaved a slash harken in two with a quickly drawn MVS blade that was just as quickly returned to the scabbard. "Miss Cecile, I'm using the VARIS!"

["NO! YOU COULD GET KILLED!"]

"I can't evade at this range, I _need_ to be able to destroy it with one blow! Even if it means I have to risk getting blasted to take the first shot!"

The Lancelot aimed the VARIS with both hands, the barrel extending into sphere mode as Suzaku saw the Raikou fill the targeting sight and the VARIS built up a charge.

* * *

With the JLF troops out of the way and being held at gunpoint by his forces, Zero spoke to Euphie privately.

="I hear that you're the Sub-Viceroy of Area 11 now your highness."= Zero said. ="Princess Euphemia li Britannia."=

"It's _not_ an appointment I'm happy with." She replied.

="That's because Clovis was murdered isn't it? That was _my_ handiwork."= Zero stated. ="He _pleaded_ pathetically for his life 'till the very end, with the same tongue that ordered a _massacre_."=

"So is that the reason you killed my brother?" Euphie asked, clenching her fists slightly.

="Only partially."= Zero replied coolly, confusing her.

"Then what other reason could you have had?"

="Because Prince Clovis was an offspring of the Britannian Emperor."= The masked man spat icily, shocking Euphie.

" _What!?"_ She thought, suppressing the desire to recoil away from Zero.

="That reminds me…"= Zero added as he drew the pistol back out from inside his cloak. ="You're one of his children _too_ aren't you."= He said menacingly as he aimed it at Euphie's heart and flicked the safety off.

* * *

["Fire at maximum output! I don't give a _damn_ if it wrecks the gun, this is the last shot we're gonna get!"] The Raikou's commander ordered as Suzaku closed with them at high speed.

["OBLITERATE HIM!"] The man yelled as the linear cannon fired for the final time, a lance of golden light racing out as the sabot around the canister shell dispersed once clear of the barrel.

* * *

Suzaku pulled the firing switch and let loose a sphere of condensed energy.

Lloyd had told him a few days ago that the VARIS was basically Britannia's attempt to build a Mega Buster style weapon for Knightmare Frames using its existing railgun technology, by utilizing the rails and coils to concentrate and propel an energy charge at high speeds and containing it within a magnetic field that was maintained through normal combat ranges. Like the Buster Cannons used by X and Zero, in addition to the unknown Reploid associated with the 'other' Zero.

As he was told, the VARIS had two main fire modes, a rapid fire short-mid range setting and a higher output shot with greater range but also an associated increase in energy usage and decrease in rate of fire.

Suzaku was using the latter at the moment.

The two shots collided directly, the VARIS shot vaporizing the ball bearings fired by the Raikou and then flying straight down the cannon's barrel, triggering a reaction with the machine's sakuradite batteries, energy fillers, and Yggdrasil drives that turned the artillery platform into an immense fireball.

The Lancelot leapt from the hole in the tunnel and through the brief gap in the lake's water before it rushed to fill the void left by the massive explosion.

Suzaku changed firing mode and took aim at the supports and the JLF troops below, opening fire and sending a hail of energy bolts screaming down, wiping out the security troops at the base of the hotel and destroying the central block, causing the tower begin collapsing in a controlled manner.

He winced at the deaths but his orders were to clear the way if possible and he had no way to disable the armor without killing the crews at this range…

* * *

"He really did it… Guilford!" Cornelia ordered, her Knight rallying the Royal Guard forwards to rescue the hostages.

* * *

The Lancelot slowly descended past the hotel as the parachute unit it had been fitted with opened to reduce its descent rate.

Suzaku's eyes widened as he spotted an unmistakable shape silhouetted in a lit room.

" _Zero!"_

* * *

" _That White Knightmare!"_ Lelouch's eyes widened as he pressed the trigger and blew the demolition charges that had been fitted at key points throughout the hotel.

He didn't need the military moving in this quickly, not while he was still inside.

With those key structural supports now gone, the hotel's collapse suddenly accelerated rapidly as the upper levels began to compact down onto those below them.

* * *

X leapt off the roof and slid down the side of the doomed building before jumping off and landing on the bridge, using his boosters and apogee motors to slow himself enough to land safely some distance away, staring in mute horror at the crumbling tower.

" **EUPHIE!"** Cornelia screamed, her voice barely audible to X from afar…

[" **MY FRIENDS!** "] Suzaku shouted as the Lancelot shot forwards and into the expanding cloud of dust.

["Lieutenant Kururugi! It's too dangerous!"] Lloyd implored, worried more about his precious Knightmare than Suzaku as the Lancelot leapt towards the sinking wreck of the hotel as X stood there in a stupor amongst the ruined JLF vehicles and Knightmares that had been tossed in that direction by the courtyard being torn up by the building as it fell, watching the hotel collapse into the lake.

"No… C2… The Princess… Everyone…" He fell to his knees, fighting back tears as he clenched his fists. "Why…"

* * *

"What about the cameras in van three?" Diethard asked as he and his co-workers checked the transmissions from van two.

"I _told_ you that Zero took the va-"

"Well let's just hope we pick up a signal from them then!" Diethard stated, cutting the other man off.

" _What're you doing Zero… Wasn't that part of your plan?"_ He thought as he waited.

And then the mask of Zero appeared on the static screen, Diethard's jaw dropping open.

[="My dear Britannians, have no fear, _all_ of the remaining hostages from the hotel are safe and sound. I _Zero_ return them to you _unharmed_."=] He declared as a camera panned over a large concentration of lifeboats carrying the Britannian hostages.

* * *

"They're okay!" Suzaku whispered, tears of joy flowing from his eyes as he saw his friends, alive and unharmed.

* * *

X stood up and glanced over the crowd, spotting C2 floating in the same lifeboat as the Ashford girls, which was actually a metal fishing dinghy instead of a rubber raft to accommodate for the Reploid's weight, exhaling in relief as he too shed tears of joy as Zero and Vile rushed over to him. "They're alright…"

"X! You okay?" Zero said as the red armored hunter slapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah… I'm fine…"

"I've got a bead on that fucker…" Vile whispered as he leveled his shoulder cannon at the outline of the rebel on the yacht before Zero put a hand out in front of him.

"Zero just saved these people, if you open fire on him you'll be declared a Maverick and put down…" Zero warned, still finding it odd to say his own name but not in reference to himself.

Vile growled but otherwise remained silent.

* * *

"The brazen… If we attack him those people will be in the line of fire…" Cornelia snarled as she slammed a fist against the roof of her cockpit pod. "You win this round Zero…" She conceded.

* * *

Spotlights illuminated the individuals surrounding Zero on the yacht he was broadcasting from, the combined members of the Kozuki group and Kusukabe's moderate soldiers who'd been present at the hotel standing there, all but Zero and Kusukabe himself clad in the same black uniforms and body armor, with Q2 flanking him to one side with Kusukabe, in a less restrictive officer's type uniform, and Ohgi on the other.

="People! _Fear_ us or _rally_ behind us as you see fit!"= Zero exclaimed. ="For we… Are the **Black Knights**!"= He announced to the world.

="We of the Black Knights stand with _all_ those who have no weapons to wield, regardless of whether they be **Numbers or Britannians**! Be they **Humans or Reploids**!"=

="Today, radical hardliners within the Japan Liberation Front led by Lieutenant Oe hijacked a stand being made by Colonel Kusukabe to free wrongly imprisoned individuals being repressed by the occupation government in the hopes of encouraging genuine negotiations and mercilessly began executing innocent civilians despite attempts by the Colonel and his moderate soldiers to **avoid** pointless bloodshed! For that wanton and meaningless act, they have been _punished_."= He explained as he stood there like some gargoyle.

="Much like I punished Prince Clovis for ordering the slaughter of _countless_ unarmed Elevens in Shinjuku, for both times I could not stand idly by while such acts of cruelty were carried out and thus I made _both_ pay the _ultimate_ price for their arrogant and selfish actions!"=

="I will not repudiate an engagement on the battlefield, but nor I will tolerate the senseless _slaughter_ of the weak by the strong! The only ones who should kill, **are those who are prepared to be killed**!"= He declared, challenging his enemies to open warfare. ="Whenever oppressors _abuse_ their power by attacking those who are powerless, we shall appear again to stop them! No matter how _mighty_ , how **formidable** our foe may be!"=

" _Knights for justice… Is_ this _what he meant…?"_ Kallen thought as she awaited the final part of Zero's speech.

="Those of you _with_ power, **_fear_** us!"= The masked man declared as he swept one arm out to the side.

="Those of you _without_ it, **_rally_ **behind us!"= He asked as he did the same with the other before closing his cloak up again.

="We of the Black Knights shall stand in **_judgment_** of this world!"=

* * *

 **August 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds**

It was in the very early hours of the next day when Lelouch met up with C2 back at Ashford, Kusukabe and his remaining troops had vanished off to a safehouse but would remain in contact, while the Black Knights had gone to ground to evade Cornelia and Repliforce, the latter of whom had shown up late despite Colonel's best efforts.

Lelouch had noted that C2's used data set had been rather ninja-like and had heard Sayoko practicing with dummy techniques in the past.

"So, how did you managed to be in two places at once." Lelouch asked her as they walked back to the Clubhouse.

"It was a live decoy trick using a reprogrammed Met. I couldn't just leave the others wondering what happened to me and it's easier to ditch your followers than Milly. Plus it'll throw off any possible suspicions X might have for the moment" She explained as Lelouch shrugged, conceding that point to her, and stretched a bit before stopping.

"Is something the matter?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

C2 simply looked up at the stars. "No… Everything's fine…" She replied after a moment.

"Alright then, just hurry up okay?" He responded before walking inside the clubhouse building.

C2 frowned as the brief flicker of a memory flashed before her eyes. Before shrugging and following Lelouch inside.

Up atop the roof of the building, a shadowy figure frowned before teleporting away.

* * *

 **August 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Imperial Conference Room, Pendragon, Britannian Homeland.**

Schneizel sat down next to his elder brother Odysseus eu Britannia, the other man nodding at him as Carine ne Britannia, her elder brother Alexander ne Britannia, Guinevere de Britannia, took their seats.

"Castor and Pollux will join us later, Maximillian is almost here, and Hannes is off on the front, which leaves us waiting on Cornelia and Euphemia." Odysseus informed the Second Prince.

"And the Emperor?"

"He has deferred us to the Executrix yet again but she remains out of contact." A new voice said as the imposing, Knightmare Frame sized form of the Reploid named 'General' marched into the meeting room, the two Imperial Guard Gracchus Knightmare units standing guard at the immense doors saluting the Supreme Commander of Repliforce as he entered and crossed his arms, golden colored ceratanium armor gleaming brilliantly in the light.

"I see." Schneizel acknowledged as Bismarck Waldstein entered and sat down as his fellow Rounds, Dorothea Ernst and Monica Krushevsky, the latter being the commander of the Emperor's personal guards, did the same.

Cornelia and Euphie appeared via holographic projection as did Colonel and Iris on their own units, plus Michele Manfredi, Knight of Two, followed shortly by the physical presence of Maximilian va Britannia and his knight, Selvaria Bles, both of whom sat down opposite Schneizel.

"Now that we're all here, I assume we _all_ know _why_ we've gathered here." Schneizel said.

["Indeed…"] Cornelia said, her voice sounding as foul as her mood.

"Quite, Zero is proving to be an excessive thorn in our side." Guinevere added, a scowl on her face.

General hummed and rubbed his chin. "And now he has a military force, albeit small, with the possibility of a not insubstantial portion of the JLF defecting to his command." The Reploid noted.

Bismarck frowned but kept his peace as he exchanged a glance with Doretha.

["And what of the situation in the homeland, have any of those 'patriot' groups attempted anything?"] Colonel asked as a transport truck was heard rumbling behind him, indicating he was still in the field.

"So far nothing, although the test site in Los Alamos for the Ea project is reporting strange activity nearby. We think it's the KGB or various EU intel agencies but without proof we can't be sure it's not insurgents inspired by Zero even if they're just proxies." The Second Prince replied. "I've assigned a group from OSI's CIB, backed by a reinforced garrison, to keep an eye on it."

"So? What's the big deal?" Carine asked. "Wouldn't this be a good time to hire more contractors?"

Schneizel rolled his eyes as Alexander sighed in exasperation, the ne Britannia siblings held at least decent amounts of shares in most any firm related to the military industrial complex.

Including Private Military Corporations.

Ironically were it not for their patronage countless small businesses would've gone bankrupt struggling to keep up with the demand to supply the military with munitions and parts for all its equipment so the Second Prince had to give them that.

["I agree that there are things the private sector can do better and cheaper than the military can, but we're only considering handing aggressor training over to them for the moment aside from catering to some logistical and low level security needs."] Cornelia huffed, the Second Princess brokering no disagreement from Carine.

"Back on the subject of Zero, what're we to do with him?" Maximilian questioned as he tapped his chin.

Cornelia had a pensive look on her face.

"Sister, what did you do?" Odysseus asked nervously, the first Prince had always been aware of how out of his element he was compared to almost all of his siblings and had thus typically ceded authority to avoid being run roughshod over by those with more drive and ambition.

It was telling that he'd only really had any sort of decent relationship with their more idealistic and kind brothers and sisters, such as Nunnally, Euphie, or Julia.

Although Schneizel remembered Odysseus _had_ gotten along well enough with Lelouch, likely due to his good relationship with Nunnally.

["I have put into effect an unofficial ceasefire between my forces and the Black Knights while I try to regroup and retrain Clovis's leftovers, those units I could simply send back to the homeland for full retraining, to a higher standard, I fully expect them to break it before this can be completed however and Liath has contingencies in effect."]

Euphie simply sighed as Colonel looked away sheepishly.

"Ah yes, on the subject of the Executrix… Promoting a Number to junior officer rank out of the blue is… Unwise in this climate." Guinevere stated. "She should be wary of the nobles."

["The last nobleman to try and take her down not only failed, but he and much of his line simply vanished overnight afterwards… Likely at the hands of Pluton if not her own forces."] Euphemia of all people said, correcting her sister, which would shut her up for the next few minutes.

That put a noticeable pallor over the mood, as SOG Pluton answered only to the Emperor, the Executrix, General, or a handful of others with Imperial level authority such as the Knight of One.

"I know nothing of that specific incident, as I've refrained from using Pluton in _any_ capacity." General clarified before any questions could be asked. Schneizel supposed it was typical of the Reploid to refrain from misusing Black Ops units for retaliatory purposes.

"Well then if we have no definite plan to deal with Zero at this time, then let us move on to other, equally pressing concerns." Bismarck said, finally speaking up after exchanging a glance with Schneizel.

"The Chinese?" Maximilian asked as Carine's eye's glinted.

The Second Prince nodded. "Although a proper briefing is coming shortly, I've been in talks with my Soviet counterpart about the Chinese force movements to Korea, notably including the Chinese Sixth and Seventh fleets, including two full expeditionary units and a reinforced assault landing complement, backed by a large number of logistics vessels."

["How many troops?"] Cornelia asked, now concerned by the level of strength the Chinese had on hand.

"Approximately the entirety of the Chinese forces in Korea barring the garrison forces. Plus whatever leftovers from the JSDF that escaped to China. The Soviets are watching the Mongolian and Manchurian forces to see if they move as well."

["Those forces with a proper supply line set up could in theory overrun at least half of Area 11 before reinforcements from Area 12 arrive."] Colonel noted grimly.

The pregnant pause was only broken by Cornelia after noting something about Schneizel's statement.

["And why do the Soviets concern you in this affair?"] Cornelia questioned, her eyes narrowing.

"Because I've made them an offer they'd be stupid to refuse. In return for them keeping an eye on the situation for us of course." The Prime Minister said with a smirk on his face.

["Now, about the EU troop movements to Egypt? What of our forces in the region?"] Cornelia asked.

"We're marshalling units but for the most part we need some of personal forces redeployed to Area 18, as given you're fresh off from the conquest of that area your troops are currently the most experienced in desert warfare."

["Who's in charge currently? I would've thought that our air and submarine forces could handle disrupting their supply lines in the event of an armed conflict?"] Iris asked after glancing at her brother.

"The acting Viceroy of Area 18 would be Admiral Simon Greyfield…" Selvaria reported after checking something quickly.

There were groans all around.

"Greyfield?! That idiot? No wonder the EU are massing troops, the man's a desk jockey with delusions of grandeur, he's probably marching troops around to look busy but accomplishing next to nothing!" Bismarck groused.

It was well known in upper circles that Admiral Simon Greyfield, while an impressive logistics manager, was one of the worst possible command choices in the military due to his supreme arrogance and narcissism. To the point that Naval officers routinely bet that if Britannia ever collapsed into a multi-way civil war like the kind that marred the early years of Claire li Britannia's reign and if Greyfield had access to any PA system or TV camera he'd _immediately_ declare himself the next Emperor.

["I'll prepare my troops to redeploy to Area 18, but it'll take some time and I have to cover up the movements lest Zero be emboldened."] Cornelia finally said.

"Make sure you do so sister… Also, have you found a Knight for Euphemia yet?" Schneizel asked.

["I've had my adjutants work on a list of candidates since before she had her unveiling, Euphemia on the other hand is particularly stubborn and wishes to choose for herself and has still refused to look at the lists."]

Euphemia glanced edgewise at Cornelia.

"Just make sure to get it done... Now if there's nothing else on the agenda Schneizel can brief us on the deal he's made with the Soviets." Maximilian said as the Second Prince pulled out his files.

"Very well then. This is the agreement I made."

* * *

 **AN: Woo, I'm not gonna lie, I got a bit teary there when I was writing Suzaku when he saw his friends were safe.**

 **Also yeah as for the Kusukabe stuff, as I mentioned in the last chapter, barring a couple lines he doesn't even seem to be that bad a person, he was willing to listen to Zero until Euphie showed up at his door and then for some reason decided to kill him.**

 **Which in hindsight makes no sense as the Colonel was more than reasonable enough to listen to Lelouch's reasoning that the JLF was outdated, and he could easily** _ **still**_ **have worked with Zero, mostly because Lelouch's sins end up being far greater than his anyways before the season is out.**

 _ **Looks at army of pissed off Japanese going into one of the main locus of the Britannian civilian population in Area 11 after the Euphinator incident.**_

" **That'll be fine, there's no way that things won't get out of hand and people won't launch reprisals against Britannian civilians for seven years of harassment and then attempted genocide by a Princess because I can talk them down."/s**

 **But I'm not going to ramble on about that unless people decide to post reviews asking what I mean about that.**

 **On another note, I shall point out that Shadow Man is believed to be an alien robot even in the game continuity before anyone jumps me on that.**

 **Also as for why I had Kallen's father give Lelouch the mobile HQ, it's simple. Libertine means either someone who lacks morality, particularly in sexual matters, or someone who is freethinking in matters of Religion.**

 **And given a snide comment made by Kallen implying her stepmother is sleeping around with various men in episode 9 in response to an insult directed towards herself. Well he clearly falls in the latter definition.**

 **Details like these that are simply a single line of dialogue are so fascinating and yet so easily missed if you're not paying extreme levels of attention.**

 **Anyway Social Darwinism** _ **is**_ **the primary religion of Britannia basically to reiterate my point, while the Stadtfeld children were both half-Japanese...**

 **You get the point, and if you don't, then shame on you for not understanding the clear meaning behind an** _ **entire section**_ **of chapter three.**

 **Also yes, Manfredi is Knight of Two at this point as Euro Britannia doesn't quite exist yet.**

 **But it will come into being in the interlude between R1/X1 and R2/X2, which'll be a hell of a ride to get to though.**


	10. Stage 10: Raid

**AN: Here's where things get** _ **interesting**_ **.**

 **Because the Refrain episode alone isn't enough, you're gonna get some more background reactions, mostly from the EU and Soviets regarding the Black Knights.**

 **That and Refrain takes place** _ **two weeks**_ **after the preceding episode. So I had to introduce filler, before I managed to get a semi-coherent plot going for it at least.**

 **Not entirely happy with the first half, but I'm honestly not sure how to change one specific scene since it leads to a character building moment.**

 **Before we begin, another note for CG being 60's AU is that all the cops in the carnival Maossacare (I know what I did here) scene in Episode 14 have _revolvers_** , **or at least coilguns styled after revolvers.** **Law Enforcement doesn't begin to make the change to semi-auto pistols en-masse (Several departments of varying size throughout the US issued semi-autos starting in the late sixties) until the mid eighties in the 1986 Miami-Dade FBI shootout. Which combined with the introduction of the first Glock pistols and their ease of use compared to earlier semi-autos like the various Browning pistols, led to a revolution in Police armaments worldwide.**

 **Also all of the cars seem to be styled after 1960's vehicles so there's that. CG's aesthetic and tech is weird, not Dieselpunk, yet not quite Atompunk either.**

 **Sakuraditepunk? IDK, so far Ironpunk best describes CG's overall tech usage, being heavily based on megastructures of various kinds and immense war machines that aren't used IRL for a variety of reasons.**

* * *

 **Unknown Time.**

 **Unknown Location.**

" _Tempo could you hand me that coolant pressure test kit?"_ _A woman, her creator_ _Doctor Noelle Lalinde, asked as C2 hazily looked over her surroundings._

" _Of course mother…" A shape she identified as her eldest 'sister', Quake Woman, replied as she carried over the kit._

 _Doctor Lalinde nodded. "Thank you Tempo, has Thomas sent over the data on the 11th Gen masters yet?"_

" _He's still working on it, are you certain the personality data effects caused by the current copy system have been nullified?"_

 _The woman nodded. "Yes, we shouldn't have any issues compared with the AKI build of the copy system that Rock tested out a few years back. But it never hurts to check I guess."_

" _Agreed."_

 _"Oh it appears that I left C2's optics and audio inputs on again..."_

 _"You're being careless mother." Quake Woman said as she walked over and tapped something on the side of C2's head._

* * *

 **August 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence/Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 stepped out of her diagnostic station. "Been a while since I had a memory…" She stretched a bit to get her servos unstuck as she headed over to Lelouch, whom was waiting nearby with his luggage bag.

"What's on the agenda?"

"We're interdicting a Britannian mechanized infantry company that's attempting to enforce eminent domain in Chiba so an industrial complex can be built."

"Does that mean Q1 is bringing her new Burai unit?" C2 asked as she checked her energy levels.

"Yes, but preferably we'll stop them without bloodshed thanks to Cornelia's stand down order."

"And after that?"

"We're cracking down on anyone who exploits the people around the settlement for their own gain while we have Cornelia's goodwill preventing her from taking open action against us." He stated.

"Sounds high tempo, are you sure you and Q1 will be up for it with your schedules?"

He shrugged. "We'll find out."

The Reploid sighed. "That's not reassuring at all."

"We'll make it work." He assured her as they walked out of the building.

She cocked her head at him. "You'd better."

* * *

 **August 28, 2017 ATB.**

 **Kremlin Senate, Moscow, Russian SSR, USSR.**

Premier Nikita Khrushchev frowned as the latest reports trickled in regarding attempted protests and dissent in the Ukrainian and Georgian SSRs, all of which had been suppressed by the Army and KGB.

"Do we know if these 'Black Knights' will attempt to intervene in the event a widespread revolt breaks out?" He asked one of the KGB officers, whom shook his head.

"It is doubtful that they are in any position to do _anything_ outside of Area 11, despite Zero's bold statements to the contrary."

Khrushchev nodded and sighed as he glanced at a model of a Knightmare frame, which was _much_ sleeker and more humanoid than the previous Soviet designs, including the Fifth Gen Katayusha. "And what of the Orel project?" He asked, as during the final stages of the Kawaguchi crisis Britannia's Seventh Gen Knightmare had blown its way out of a tunnel and onto the global stage, much to the shock of everyone in the global military and intelligence communities, who'd assumed that the Lancelot program hadn't reached full combat potential and was still in the testing phases like its contemporaries.

"Project Orel is on schedule and will be ready for testing for final integration within the next month." A defense industry officer reported.

"And the pilot? Have we found one yet?"

"Yes, a young man by the name of Karaulov Semyonovich, a veteran Kalinka pilot who's downed at least ten Panzer-Hummels, three Corsaros, two Hoplites, six Chacals, four ex-Britannian Glasgows that had been supplied to resistance groups, and two Crusaders in combat. An impressive record, especially given given the relatively small numbers of non-French, German, or British KMF models the EU fielded in the war."

"Impressive, I can see why he was chosen." Khrushchev hummed as he looked over at a report on Chinese troop movements to Korea.

"They're beginning to move additional troops for the 'Liberation' of Area 11 aren't they." He noted, rubbing his chin gently.

One of the intel officers nodded. "It appears the Manchurian forces have been mobilized as well."

"Tell the foreign ministry to contact the Second Prince of Britannia and inform him of this…" He ordered. "And reinforce the eastern troops discreetly with additional units and more munitions. Make sure our battle plans are ready."

"At once."

* * *

 **August 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **EU Military Office E-57, Strasbourg, France.**

General Gene Smilas clenched his fists as he listened to the latest imbecile drone on about how they couldn't possibly have anticipated the Soviet Incursions into French Airspace, why they were still going on about it was beyond him, as the Council of Forty simply stuck their thumbs up their asses and shifted the blame rather than funding new air defenses, better training, or their own monitoring network as each nation blamed the other for the fault.

Idiots, people like Wolfgang, Lucchini, Hartmann and Delfino had warned them _repeatedly_ that the Soviets would utilize their orbital advantages against the EU in the event of actual war to give their air forces an advantage, neither the Council of Forty nor the morons who held their ears listened to them and now the public was in an uproar, with the entire council under threat of being replaced.

The fact that they ignored the rumors of elements within the Portuguese National Government planning to defect to Britannia, with whom that nation has had longstanding ties with since the Britannians held the British Isles, in exchange for receiving Spain and parts France as their own was equally damning as there had been reports that the Second and Fifth Princes' troops had begun arriving in Lisbon alongside shipments of armored vehicles, aircraft, Sutherlands, Gloucesters, Liverpools and Glasgows intended for the new vassal state.

At least the reveal of the Lancelot's combat potential had lit a fire under their asses and forced them to pool behind the various Seventh Gen Projects, including W-0's Alexander lest Britannia reach mass production of Seventh Gen Knightmare units first.

The Franco-Greek man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he endured this farce. Hopefully Leila would play her part for his plans.

His frown turned to a casual smirk, soon the world would be at his fingertips, once Europe was _truly_ united rather than a somewhat loose confederation of states with mutual enemies.

But _first_ , he may have to deal with Zero before he went from a small nuisance to an actual threat to his ambitions.

" _Time to call in some favors…"_ Smilas thought. As always, monitor first, terminate if the observed individual proves to be a threat.

Especially if his gut feeling about _that_ was true.

* * *

 **August 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Bee Blader** _ **Victor-48**_ **, Tokyo Settlement Airspace, Area 11.**

X, Zero, and Vile checked their ammo loads and weapon energy levels as the Bee Blader Mechaniloid thrummed high over the rooftops of the Tokyo settlement.

["SIX MINUTES UNTIL DROP."] A high-pitched voice droned as X glanced at the other Maverick Hunters.

Vile slammed his hands together. "About time we get to kick some ass again." The violet painted Reploid chuckled as Zero rolled his eyes.

"Keep it clean Vile, we're running head first into a hornet's nest because the Black Knights stirred up what seems like half the Mavericks in the Yokohama port concession, they're lucky they have that Reploid friend of theirs and that knockoff Glasgow otherwise they'd have been cut to shreds." The red armored swordsman stated as he checked his saber.

"Yeah, yeah… So are we the wrecking crew or the cleanup crew?" Vile asked as his optics glowed briefly behind his T-visor.

"We're the IST here, Storm Eagle and Commander Sigma will be our follow-up, with Flame Mammoth's troops in reserve." X stated, having kept his peace until now as he inspected his buster.

Vile laughed. "Really? Oh, now the great and mighty Zero has to call in all of us Maverick Hunters to save his precious little Knights of Justice because he underestimated the number of Criminal Mavericks." He mocked haughtily as the light turned red in the troop hold of the Bee Blader.

"They have a heavily modified shipbreaking Mechaniloid on hand, apparently whatever they armored it in is shrugging off HEAT and AP like nobody's business, and nobody's brought up any decently powerful enough artillery to knock it out, even the Police and the Britannian Marines can't scratch it." Zero replied matter-of-factly to Vile.

"So you think Boy Blue's buster cannon is powerful enough to take the bastard down?" Vile asked, cocking his head at X.

"That's the plan." Zero stated confidently.

Vile rolled his optics behind his visor. "Yeah well, if they haven't knocked it down by now, it's gonna take a lot more firepower than he has to take it out."

["RED LIGHT, STANDBY IS IN EFFECT."] The Mechaniloid's computer announced.

X smirked and checked his copy chip, hoping to ease the pre-drop jitters he always got.

"You charging in first X?" Zero asked, a smirk on his face as well.

The blue armored hunter nodded at him. "Someone's gotta knock out that Mechaniloid that has them pinned down." He joked.

["NOW OVER DROP POINT."]

The rear troop hatch opened up, the wind raging outside the compartment as X slowly tipped forwards and fell out the back of the Mechaniloid, his X-Buster already glowing as it began to charge up.

"We following him or…?"

"If you want to, be my guest." Zero taunted.

Vile glowered at him. "I'll pass on the stupidity thank you very much."

* * *

X felt the air lash at his facial sensors fell from high altitude towards the Mechaniloid crunching its way through a warehouse, spotting the flashes of gunfire in the building below through his magnified targeting view as the Black Knights, Britannian Marines and Police Officers fired upon the heavily armored shipbreaking and demolitions grade machine. Their differences set aside due to their mutual and quite resilient enemy.

Adjusting his attitude so that legs were now below him and his buster was aimed directly down, X began to charge the weapon, spotting _Victor-48_ diving off in the distance to a more… Reasonable drop altitude for Zero and Vile.

* * *

C2 winced as the Maverick Mechaniloid continued pelting them with heavy fire, nearby a Royal Britannian Marine Corps security Glasgow and a Portman unit of all things were providing cover fire for a pair of damaged Knightpolice units to withdraw.

"How much armor does that damn thing have!? We've expended just about all of our anti-tank munitions on it and it _still_ won't go down! Hell _your_ buster barely made a mark on it!" Tamaki shouted over the gunfire while Kallen's Burai moved up, blasting away at the Mechaniloid with her 25mm assault rifle, the machine firing two energy blasts from its 'head' mounted thermal plasma cutters that she barely avoided, the beams slagging one of the massive pallet shelves that still remained standing.

C2 glanced over at him from her spot next to him behind a piece of reinforced concrete flooring that had been churned up by her to provide them with some cover. "It doesn't matter! Just keep it occupied until P1's group get here with more of the RPGs!"

"WE'RE GONNA FUCKING DIE BEFORE HE GETS HERE!" Tamaki retorted as an energy blast scythed just between them, leaving a trench of molten concrete and rebar sizzling in the center of their cover.

Tamaki screamed and dove behind a large crate filled with concrete bags while C2 opened fire on the Mechaniloid again as the machine gun turret that had been placed atop the Mechaniloid by its Maverick owners swiveled to face her and blasted away with 14.5mm linear propelled armor piercing rounds, the Reploid yelping and ducking behind the concrete again as the bullets tore chunks out of her cover.

It was only then that she noticed the _rapidly_ descending point of light far above them.

"What the…"

* * *

High above them, X yelled as he fired his X-Buster at high charge, a brilliant beam of light lancing downwards and impacting the Mechaniloid.

* * *

["SON OF A BI-!"] Kallen shouted over her Burai's speakers as Lelouch, in his persona as Zero, dropped his jaw behind his mask at the sheer power of the energy blast that had come from above, X dropping in after firing several bursts from his buster to reduce his rate of descent further via the recoil combined with his thrusters and apogee motors.

="Impressive."= He noted.

"I'll say…" Inoue whispered as she and Izumi arrived alongside Ohgi and the rest of the Black Knights from their ammo run.

* * *

X grimaced as a squad of Britannian Reploid soldiers advanced hesitantly on the Mechaniloid, which began to rumble and stand up again before the dust even began to settle.

"HOW IN THE NAME OF DARWIN IS THAT THING STILL ACTIVE?!" The squad leader yelled as he and his troops scrambled for cover as Zero and Vile dropped in.

"Well now what!? If that thing's shell can withstand a blast like that…" Vile hissed whilst X rushed over to them.

Zero's green eyes lit up. "That's it! Take out the limbs!" He shouted as the three of them dove away and opened fire, the sci-fi like sounds of busters mixed with the buzz of Vile's arm vulcans blazing away as they chipped at the Mechaniloid's legs, forcing it back.

Realizing what was going on, everyone else, Britannian and Black Knight alike, opened fire on the Mechaniloid's vulnerable limbs at once.

The spider-like machine jerked to the impacts and stumbled as RPGs, bullets, energy blasts, and 25mm linear propelled shells slammed into it, yet the reinforced plating refused to yield, only staggering it slightly.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING MADE OF!? I'VE SEEN _WARSHIPS_ TAKE LESS PUNISHMENT!" A Britannian Marine shouted as they fired a LAW warhead into the Mechaniloid, which jerked back as the HEAT rocket impacted it.

="Keep firing!"= Zero ordered his own troops as Kallen picked up a shield left by one of the Knight Police units that had been forced to retire from the engagement and rushed the Mechaniloid, tossing the slab of metal at the machine before leaping into the air.

="Q1! What're you doing!?"=

Kallen's Burai landed on the bucking shipbreaker's back and then fired two 120mm anti-armor grenades from its rifle into the plating that had been weakened by X's buster shot.

The quadrupedal machine let out a mournful metallic groan from its joints and then slumped to the ground, its factsphere dimming as it fell silent and the gunfire stopped, the once deafening symphony at an end as an eerie silence filled the warehouse briefly.

Kallen panted as her red Burai slid off the Mechaniloid while the two trucks they'd arrived in moved in for their withdrawal.

Zero turned to face the identically named Maverick Hunter just as two additional Bee Bladers rumbled over the warehouse and dropped in reinforcements from Storm Eagle's Seventh Airborne, whom promptly began fanning out in search of the surviving Mavericks who'd fled while the Mechaniloid rampaged.

="Your assistance was much appreciated… Until next we meet."= The masked man said before vanishing as the Black Knights released a number of smoke canisters while the Burai activated its projectors, obscuring them whilst they retreated, leaving the Britannians rushing about trying to find them.

All the Black Knights except C2, whom stopped and gave a pensive glance to X, who for his part simply blinked at her in confusion before she leapt out of the building.

Vile grumbled about not getting a rematch with the green armored Reploid.

"Shove it in ZIP Vile, we're waiting for backup to take over the investigation and evacuate the Britannian casualties." Zero barked at him.

Vile said nothing further, glaring at Zero out of the corner of his eye as flashing red lights indicated backup, and other emergency services, had arrived.

"Why are we even letting a bunch of insurgents go free anyways?" Vile finally asked. "Because the Viceroy is sentimental?"

Zero simply glared at him, despite feeling roughly the same way as him and countless other law enforcement and military officials in the area about this situation. "Orders are orders and Commander Sigma has ordered us to abide by Viceroy Cornelia's ceasefire with them."

"Riiiiiight." Vile said as he detached his shoulder cannon and roughly handed it to one of the Hunters assigned to make sure they were disarmed as per protocol while more Hunters rushed past them to hunt down the Mavericks that had escaped in the chaos. "That'll last until they stab us in the back, mark my words Pretty Boy." He huffed as he walked away.

Zero handed one of them his Saber while another affixed a system lock to his buster, not taking his eyes off Vile.

" _He really wants to get back at that Green Reploid for Shinjuku…"_ Zero realized as he watched the other Hunter storm off.

X walked over and glanced at Vile. "What's with him…?"

"That Reploid that's working for the Black Knights… I think she injured his pride…" Zero posited as forensics units arrived with Commander Sigma and Storm Eagle in tow.

X sighed and glanced over at Sigma. "Can't worry about that now, it's time for the debrief…"

* * *

 **August 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Tokyo Settlement Highway, Area 11.**

Lelouch sat in his office in the Black Knights' mobile HQ as he stared down C2. "What happened back there? You're usually better at combating the enemy than this, especially since you took down how many Mechaniloids in Shinjuku…?"

She looked away pensively. "It's the operations tempo…" She claimed, not wanting to admit that she'd been distracted the moment the Britannians mentioned X was coming, which impeded her ability to close with the Mechaniloid and had been why it pinned her down in the first place.

"That Maverick Hunter… X was it? He's been distracting you since Lake Kawaguchi." Lelouch finally said as he put two and two together.

"Yeah… We talked a bit while he waited for an opening to head for the roof…" C2 admitted. "I didn't say anything that might lead him to ID me as being Q2 though." She added hastily.

Lelouch sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Your quest for answers to your past is going to interfere with our op-" He began before he felt a chill run down his spine at the look on her face.

" _My_ quest for answers is going to interfere with our operations…?" The Reploid said, her voice unusually cold. "What about **you** mister I'll just _kill myself_ if I won't get my way, only so I can go nearly get _captured_ trying to get answers out of Cornelia!" C2 hissed at him.

She wasn't going to let that go was she…

"Alright, let's just drop the subject, we're not going to get anywhere on it and it'll attract unnecessary attention." Lelouch conceded before he started losing his own temper as well.

"Fine." C2 stated before turning and leaving the room.

"You were easier to manage when you didn't have emotions…" He whispered without thinking due to his exhaustion, only realizing once the words were out of his mouth exactly _what_ he'd just said.

C2 stiffened halfway out the door and then continued onwards without saying anything, Lelouch silently thanking the fact it was an automatic sliding door as he clenched his head in his hands.

" **IDIOT** …!" He hissed furiously at himself and slammed a fist into his desk, of all the pretentious and stupid things he could've said, it was _that_ , telling one of his most powerful assets and closest confidants, one whom he'd built up a rapport with trying to _avoid_ the impression he was using her, that she was more useful to him _half-lobotomized_ , and mere days after a conversation where he said outright to her that he'd consider her thoughts and feelings regarding his plans.

He didn't usually apologize for things he said given his pride as much as he hated to admit it, the previous incident prior to Lake Kawaguchi notwithstanding, but this was so _monumentally stupid_ that he needed to defuse it before a further wedge drove her to abandon his cause and then everything he'd done so far would be for naught, as they were still in a weak and formative state and were _extremely_ vulnerable to attack at this phase in his plans.

He put on the mask and stood up before exiting his office and heading downstairs to the main room, where C2 was kneeling in a seiza-type position to try and calm herself, using the Shadow Man dataset to aid in this endeavor, surrounded by the other Black Knights.

Lelouch's face twitched slightly behind the mask, knowing she was doing this on purpose.

But he sucked it up and proceeded anyways, if anything by admitting he could make mistakes and own up to them it would help further down the line. By making Zero seem more _human_ , it would help to ease the expectations on him as well by making the persona fallible to a degree, at least amongst his core forces.

Two birds with one stone as the saying went.

="I'd like to apologize for what I said…"=

She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Apologizing outright, that's out of character for you…"

He twitched slightly at the thinly veiled insult as the Black Knights began to whisper, wondering what'd happened as Kallen looked up from her study book.

Lelouch didn't let that irk him. ="I had no right to say that you were more useful to me without working emotional software, In my exhaustion I'd briefly forgotten what you went through at the hands of Clovis's men, and how they tore you apart, both physically and mentally to see how you worked."= He admitted, flustered by the entire event, the other Black Knights continued murmuring amongst themselves as they wondered what Zero meant by that.

C2 smirked at him. "Make sure to remember that." She said before turning back to her meditation as Ohgi walked over to Zero.

"What did you mean by that…" He asked nervously.

="It's simple Ohgi, the cargo your group stole on that fateful day was not poison gas, but Q2… Clovis was desperate enough to liquidate the _entire_ Shinjuku ghetto to get her back as dismantling fully operational Reploids for experimentation is _illegal_ under Britannian law and is viewed no differently than performing such cruelties on humans. The only reason that day's events happened was because he was afraid of being _disinherited_."=

He let the horror of what he'd just informed them of sink in for a moment before Tamaki spoke up. "What the _fuck_ is wrong with the Britannian Royal family… That Euphemia chick seems to be the only _decent_ one of the lot that I've heard of." He said while Minami, Yoshida, Inoue and Sugiyama chattered amongst themselves.

Lelouch found himself agreeing with Tamaki. ="Indeed, what Clovis had done to Q2 was no different than torture… The result was that she can't even remember her own origins as her memories have been corrupted, many beyond recovery, with the resulting being that the most vivid and oldest memories she has left are of the _abuses_ she suffered at the hands of Clovis's researchers."=

The entire room held looks of horror, pity, and disgust when he'd said that, Kallen clenching her book in her grip until her knuckles turned white.

="Make no mistake, _these_ are the kind of Evils we fight against! To ensure _no-one_ , **Reploid** _ **or**_ **Human** , suffers such _atrocities_ ever again!"= He declared passionately while reaching out and clenching a fist as C2's eyes widened behind her visor before she grinned slightly as the Black Knights announced their support for Zero in this endeavor.

" _You saw an opportunity and made the most of it Lelouch… I guess I have to give that much to you, it's one thing you do_ amazingly _well."_ She thought as she stood up while Zero overlaid the next set of organizational plans they had while everyone was present.

* * *

 **September 1, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Arena, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lloyd worked on his computer while the Initiate clashed with the Lancelot in Liath and Suzaku's latest duel, he'd long since grown bored with watching two of his precious machines tear into eachother and simply focused on the data stream that both were sending him.

"Amazing… With all of this testing information we'll finish up the Lionel and Bors type OSes within the week…" He whispered as Cecile walked over. "And then it'll be a small matter to move to a true mass production type."

"Ah, right on time, what's the status of Lancelot Units Three and Four?" He asked as he finally noticed her.

"Approximately forty percent now, although Unit Four is currently on a work halt order as ASEEC is considering using it as a testbed for the new mass production type. Additionally the Glinda Knights have informed us that they've received the Lancelot Trial and Princess Marrybell has taken possession of it as her personal unit while they ramp up the number of Gloucester and Gracchus units in their arsenal as they continue selecting candidates for the unit."

"Good, good… Well at least we'll get the Initiate back after this for use in float system testing instead of that Sutherland…" Lloyd sighed as he watched the two machines come to a halt, Lancelot's VARIS lowering as Suzaku stowed the active weapons while Lloyd pulled up his headset and began to broadcast. "That'll be all for now Suzaku, we're pitting you against another full spec Lancelot unit next time so you can't rely on specs to win." Lloyd informed him.

["Right…"] Suzaku replied from the Lancelot.

"Are you sure doing this is okay Lloyd, he sounds worn out…" Cecile worried.

"He's quite fine, I'm monitoring his vitals and he's actually increasing the amount of time he can maneuver Lancelot at high Gs."

"I see… Just don't work him too hard…" Cecile warned softly.

Lloyd simply waved her off. "You worry too much."

She grabbed Lloyd's shoulder and began to squeeze on it roughly. "I _mean_ it Lloyd."

"Yes ma'am!" He squeaked.

* * *

Suzaku sighed as he sat down on a bench in one of the several ready rooms of the palace, sipping a bottle of water as he relaxed.

He heard a familiar set of boots clap on the ground and turned to see the Executrix standing there.

 **="You've been improving Knight Kururugi. You actually held your own against me this time for longer than the initial clashes."=** She noted as she stood in the doorway, Suzaku bowing his head to her deferentially.

"You're too kind your eminence." He replied humbly.

Liath waved it off. = **"I'd like to ask you a question."=**

He nodded at her.

 **="What's your opinion of Zero?"=**

Suzaku took pause briefly before speaking. "He's a hypocrite and a blatant showman, his plans are so convoluted they almost certainly rely on luck to work with minimal civilian casualties. And…" Suzaku froze and clutched the sides of his head as Liath reeled back slightly while the boy hyperventilated before slowly calming down.

She walked over and knelt next to him. **="Are you alright?"=**

He slowly nodded at her, his reflection visible in the silvery faceplate of her mask.

 **="I strongly suggest you head to a medical facility for a checkup, don't make me make it an order."=**

He nodded and stood up, clutching at his chest briefly before walking out of the room.

 **="If I may ask, what exactly caused that to happen?"=** She asked after a brief pause.

Suzaku grimaced, a faint yet vivid image of a bloodstained Euphemia holding his hand as she died floating at the forefront of his mind. He turned back to her.

"Just a bad memory…" He replied without thinking as he walked out of the room, narrowing his eyes as he wondered what exactly he meant by that.

Behind her mask, Liath made a predatory grin.

" _Oh he's beginning to remember as well isn't he, this should be_ wonderful _come_ that _incident."_ She thought with barely restrained glee.

She'd stick to the overall plan… But riling everything into a slowly boiling uproar for her own amusement made everything just about worth the absolute chewing out Charles was going to give her.

* * *

 **September 1, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch sighed as he glanced down at his science paper as C2 sat next to him, looking at him pensively while he worked.

"Why exactly did it seem like a good idea for you to bum rush half the Area's criminal groups over the course of a week?" She asked flatly as she snapped her fingers in front of his face as he dozed off again. "Oi, wake up or I'll tell Milly your hand stopped moving again."

He glared at her. "Not funny."

"You're exhausted, and so is Kallen, both coincidentally starting at the same time. People are already talking you know." She didn't need to elaborate about what they were talking about.

"What's your excuse?" He asked her, irritated now about the rumor mill, which was likely being encouraged by Milly. "You're involved with our actions."

"I'm a Reploid, I _can't_ physically get tired like humans can." She muttered, blushing a bit as she realized he'd unintentionally tricked her into making a double entendre given the lack of a smug grin on his face.

"And keep your mouth shut with the double entendres and innuendos. Remember yesterday when Arthur snagged that military helmet you never got rid of? And _I_ had to chase him down because you're a lazy git who skips PE? You literally said 'C2's off chasing pussy' to Suzaku because you're too tired to _think_ straight. I was _no_ t happy about having to explain to the entire student council that I was retrieving something the cat had snagged." She muttered as she glared at him.

Lelouch's face burned red as she recounted the summary of the incident to him.

That had been an utter fiasco.

Already rumors were spreading that one could've heard Milly's resulting deranged laughter from the homeland.

"Don't even get me started on Kallen shouting "I'll take some corn" in the middle of one of our meetings because she thought she was in the lunch line." C2 sighed. "Just, take a break, you're running everyone ragged and it's _going_ to get someone killed at this rate."

Lelouch clucked his tongue, conceding her point. "I get it, we can't keep this tempo up with the forces on hand, I'll direct Ohgi to continue recruiting from the Japanese and disgruntled Britannians whenever possible, I'd like to recruit more Reploids but by and large the Maverick Hunters have a rather bad reputation regarding their rather low rate of actually detaining criminal Reploids so they're skittish. It's just too easy for someone with enough pull to declare a random Reploid in their employ a Maverick and have them 'retired' while getting away scott free."

"We're going after the Hunters? Or just proving a point?" C2 inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Proving a point, that certain aspects of society, the Hunters included, need reforms to minimize abuse by the powerful." He clarified. "After tomorrow's op we'll switch over to the lower tempo operations like cracking down on corrupt business deals and Refrain trafficking."

"Right…" With that C2 stood up and walked down the pathway, heading back to the Student Council Clubhouse.

Lelouch packed up his own things and followed after her, figuring he might as well finish up his work and then go to bed.

* * *

"C2 GRAB THE CAT!" He shouted as he and the Reploid chased Arthur, who was trailing his Zero cloak behind him, down the hallway, he could hear N.N. laughing behind them, the demented witch was wearing one of his shirts and had evidently rifled through more than one girl's underwear drawer given the reports being put into security about a 'panty thief'.

He'd question the fact she only ever wore stolen items of clothing that had belonged to other people, but his pressing concern was to stop Arthur from getting out of the building and not only ruining that _very_ expensive cloak but also revealing his identity.

C2 briefly activated her armor, jump dashed over the cat and then grabbed the protesting feline as her armor vanished again, Arthur dropping the cloak thus allowing Lelouch to retrieve it.

"New rule, no cats in my room. _Ever_ again."

C2 simply released the cat after setting him, walked over to N.N. and ripped Cheese-kun out of her hands, snuggling the plush blob close to her as she walked back to her diagnostic station.

"Rude." The immortal whispered as she returned to Lelouch's room, the black-haired boy sighing as he followed N.N. back to his room, setting the cloak into the storage case as he pulled out one of the spares and folded it before loading it into his briefcase.

He glanced over at N.N. only to find that she'd gone to sleep, again in _his_ bed. Lelouch frowned and made sure all his files were saved before shutting down his laptop and letting it charge.

"Guess I'm sleeping on the couch again…" He muttered. "Typical."

* * *

 **September 2, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights mobile HQ, staging area near Haneda Airport, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 watched as the Black Knights did last minute checks on their weapons.

"So who're we interdicting that requires us to bring three Burais?" Ohgi asked as he finished gathering his ammo mags.

="Our target is Duchess Camilla Stadtfeld, current chairwoman of Stadtfeld holdings in addition to her duties as Duchess of Pittsburgh."= Zero replied, Kallen tensing up as she heard the name.

"Why her?" Tamaki questioned as he checked an Ithaca 37 shotgun, one of the few firearm type weapons still in use with Britannia's military, largely due to its reliability and ease of maintenance compared to the more finnicky coilguns.

="Because the company has a reputation for using the Maverick Hunters as an unwitting proxy to terminate unruly Reploids in their employ, all at her behest."=

"Wait, how'd you get all this intel anyways? Even _I_ didn't know my bitch of an aunt was coming to Area 11!" Kallen demanded as Izumi and Osada, another former Yamato alliance member, glanced at eachother.

="I have my sources."= Zero replied cryptically to her. ="Regardless our mission is to capture and force her to confess to her crimes, we believe that she may be arriving to chew out Jeremiah Gottwald for allowing the local branch of the Purist faction to slide under, potentially to excommunicate him for drifting from their ethos."=

"Wait… She's a purist!?" Inoue yelped.

="Barring Q1, her departed brother, and their father, seemingly the entire Stadtfeld line above the age of sixteen are card carrying members of the Purebloods. Good, _patriotic_ , Britannians. The only issue the Britannian government has with the purebloods really is their general low-tolerance for Reploids."= Zero stated.

Kallen's eyes narrowed as she watched C2 glower off to the side.

 _"So, we have a mutual dislike of the fuckers then."_ She noted given the Reploid's reactions.

"And how're we capturing her?" Minami questioned, still off put by the entire operation.

Zero pulled up a battle plan on the main screen. ="Q1 and the available members of R group are to hold position in hangar seven with three Burais, it's far enough away from the IBAF station at the airport to avoid scrutiny and is privately owned so there's little risk of a random worker stumbling across them, they'll be the reserve group. P group is to wait in warehouse six for the order to charge, whereupon they'll distract the Pureblood soldiers, mercs and the Police by racing down Runway A with a two M8 Armored cars, a Panzer-Hummel, and a Type 50 MBT that've been stowed on-site by Kusukabe's troops in preparation, disrupting air traffic and deliberately drawing attention to our operation."=

"Wait… We're bait?!" Tamaki shouted in protest.

="A distraction, your orders are to immediately vacate the airport premises after about five minutes with the rest of us, as it'll take that long for the IBAF security troops to scramble their Cadillac Armored Cars, Glasgows and OV-6 light attack VTOLs, ten to fifteen minutes or more before _proper_ enemy CAS gets airborne."=

Ohgi gulped.

="B group is with me and Q2, we'll be greeting the Duchess at Runway B, specifically on the tarmac near the international terminal, whereupon we'll terminate her private security and any Purebloods who get in our way and take her into our custody, the Police are not to be targeted nor are the noncombatant employees."=

"What about N group?" Sugiyama asked.

="The other mission capable members of N group will cover our escape route from the airport utilizing the remaining two Burais and the other Panzer-Hummel Kusukabe provided us with. R group is to guard the assigned temporary base at coordinates Q2 will be handing to you."= Zero informed them.

Lelouch certainly wasn't regretting letting the good Colonel join up with them, even if his now ex-JLF troops had to lay low for the most part until recruitment gave them enough forces to enact the cell system that he was planning out, the _equipment_ they now had, while not up to par with the Britannian and European stuff he was smuggling in, was far better than having next to nothing at all.

And they had a _lot_ of equipment, including much needed medical supplies and the associated expertise.

"Right."

="The operation begins at 1700 hours, we'll be on-site at 1500, we're burning daylight people, snap to it"= Zero ordered.

A chorus of acknowledgements were his reply.

Behind his mask, Lelouch smirked.

Attacking an international airport with a plan so obscenely over the top that it was almost like something out of a video game or movie would embarrass the Britannians to high heaven, which although it may end his ceasefire with Cornelia, he knew that her goodwill period had about run out, so better to make a move now than be caught off guard by her troops or the police the next time they made a showing.

Of course, he knew she was liable to overlook it due to the need to transfer troops to Area 18, which gave him another week or so to work with.

And he didn't even _need_ his Geass for this, and hadn't used it at C2's insistence as she'd questioned his increasing reliance on it. He'd dismissed her concerns but decided to appease her for the moment.

The thankful part there were so many underpaid airport employees who'd just look the other way with the right 'motivation'.

* * *

 **September 2, 2017 ATB.**

 **Haneda International Airport, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Through the hacked airport security feed, Ohgi watched as Duchess Stadtfeld's private Boeing 707 rolled up to its specified unloading point, surrounded by police and private military contractors, plus a few Sutherlands from one of the Area 11 Pureblood chapters, in this case the Kure group given the fact the Tokyo group was an utter mockery at this point.

He counted about a dozen patrol cars, two armored vans, four M8 Greyhound armored cars, six PMC Glasgows, six PMC M35 cargo trucks, two Jeeps, and four Knightpolice Glasgow units, four Sutherland units bearing Purebloods markings, with about forty PMC guards and twenty odd beat cops on the ground plus a pair of CV-34 VTOLs serving as escorts for the Duchess's personal S-61 VTOL.

This was before the rest of the airport's organic security complement, including law enforcement, contractor, and military were accounted for.

"Alright Zero… What's the signal…" He murmured as he watched the flight crew disembark from the jet as the lights on the aircraft went out, checking the thermal readings and finding nobody aboard the plane, not even a basic Mechaniloid like a Met.

Surely it would be something discreet that let them burst out guns blazing right?

Then a coded text message from Q2 played out on his screen.

[ALL THEIR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.]

["Is that the frigging signal?"] Tamaki radioed, questioning the odds.

"No, it just means everyone is in position." Ohgi replied.

There was a brief pause, and then the next message came through.

[THEY CAME FROM BEHIND.]

" _That's_ the signal!" Ohgi shouted as he drove the Panzer-Hummel forwards, bursting from behind the container stack and blasting out the door of the private warehouse as the tank and armored cars followed him.

["WOOO! BEST PLAN _EVER_!"] Someone shouted over the radio as they began racing down the runway, turning and firing at the Duchess's security complement while the Type 50 tank, which had _Amaterasu_ written on the fume extractor in Kanji, fired a HESH shell at the 707 in tune with the missile salvo unleashed by Ohgi from the shoulder mounted launchers on the Panzer-Hummel, blowing the aircraft apart while a barrage of autocannon rounds riddled the S-61 as the UV-34s began to lift off and chase them down, followed by the Knightpolice, Sutherlands, armored cars, and Glasgows.

"This is P1, enemy distracted!" Ohgi shouted as he fired the Panzer-Hummel's torso missiles at the VTOLs, turning them into short lived fireballs which plummeted towards the ground as sirens began to blare all over the airport.

[="Roger, we're moving in. Q1 engage the Sutherlands!"=] Zero ordered as another shot from _Amaterasu_ tore into the torso of a Glasgow unit and sent it tumbling into a tangled wreck on the runway, the pilot apparently not anticipating the on the move accuracy of the MBT, likely having bought into Britannian propaganda about Japanese military technology.

["Right!"] Kallen replied as N Group's offense Burais burst from the hangar with her, cutting down a hapless Sutherland and causing the Britannian pursuit groups to split.

* * *

Two armored SWAT vans with police markings rolled up to the burning wreck of the 707 as sirens wailed around them.

Duchess Stadtfeld ran over to them. "Oh for the love of, where were you people when those Terrorists showed up!" She demanded haughtily as a half dozen of her PMC guards trooped over with her.

"Wait those aren't ours!" One of the cops shouted upon realizing that the markings were slightly off.

The rear doors of the closest van slammed open and C2 grinned psychotically behind her battle mask as her purple, gold and white armor glowed eerily from the of the fire, having realized shortly before the mission had begun that she'd inadvertently copied Vile's weapons chip in Shinjuku.

And was now aiming two vulcan guns and a shoulder mounted micro-artillery cannon at them.

"Sayonara fuckers." She cackled as she opened fire, mulching the Duchess's guards with nary a second thought, the woman ducking for cover and screaming as blood and gore sprayed everywhere, the Reploid turning her attention to the rest of the guards and the police afterwards.

"GOOD GOD!" B4 shouted as B2 and B1 hauled the insensate Duchess into van A while van B's occupants offered additional and rather unnecessary covering fire.

"Waaah, waaaah, CRY SOME MORE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" C2 cackled madly as she sprayed bullets downrange, what little accurate return fire there was bouncing off her armor, stepping clear of the van and walking menacingly towards the rest of the retreating mercs

[="Q2! THAT'S ENOUGH! WE'RE FALLING BACK! FURTHER KILLING IS UNNECESSARY!"=] Zero shouted at her over the comms.

C2 stopped and glanced down at the massive pool of blood and gore she'd waded into and stopped firing, trembling slightly at her gruesome handiwork as more accurate fire pinged off her armor.

"Did I…" She murmured as she stared wide-eyed at the torn apart corpses as increasingly accurate gunfire pinged off her armor with equally increasing frequency.

[="Q2! GET TO VAN B ASAP, WE ARE LEAVING!"=] Zero ordered, snapping C2 out of her funk as she immediately turn and ran, firing back at a transport truck and turning its engine block into a bullet-riddled wreck as she jumped into the van and let loose a salvo of shells, turning about a dozen more advancing mercs into bloody chunks as the hyper-volatile compounds in the HE filler of the warheads detonated.

The beat cops, who'd escaped without serious injuries by sheer luck rather than any actual plan, were currently too traumatized by what they'd just witnessed to offer any actual opposition beyond potshots.

C2 sat down and clutched her head with her hands after switching them back, eyes unfocused as the full impact of what was occurring began to settle in.

"Damnit! Some of the guys chasing Ohgi are on us now!" B7 shouted from the driver's seat of van B.

Gathering herself, C2 glanced out the rear window of the van and noted that one of the armored cars, a Sutherland and three Glasgows were now chasing them down, she kicked one of the doors open and fired her shoulder cannon at the Sutherland, blowing its torso apart and sending the now directionless legs careening off towards the main terminal.

The Glasgows aimed their assault rifles, ready to blow van B apart before C2 could redirect her cumbersome shoulder cannon at them.

And then Q1's Burai slammed into the lead Glagow unit, sending its cockpit flying off as she decapitated it with a single stroke while N2 and N3 gunned down the followers before they got a shot off on Kallen, the armored car swerving out in a panic and running into a directional sign at a bad angle, sending the vehicle tumbling over it due to momentum before crashing through a fence into a line of private jets and crashing to a halt against one, both machines sliding about six to eight feet as a result of momentum transfer.

Exhaling in relief, C2 tapped her comms. "Thanks for the save Q1."

["Don't mention it."] Kallen replied as they were joined by Ohgi's group.

* * *

["This is P5, uh… Did the Brits scramble any planes while we were screwing around…?"] Tamaki asked.

Lelouch frowned behind his mask as he clicked the transmitter. ="No… Why?"=

["Well because we've got four of the stupidest looking fighter jets I've ever seen coming after our asses at our nine o'clock."] He replied.

Zero glanced out his window and spotted four vaguely slash harken shaped craft screaming in at low altitude.

="What in the…"=

He spotted lights flickering on either side of their central airframes, his mouth engaging before his brain processed their nature as muzzle flashes.

="EVASIVE!"= He ordered, Inoue swerving the vehicle as 20mm rounds tore into the pavement around them while Ohgi, Kallen, N2, and N3 engaged in anti-aircraft with both of the Greyhounds and the tank as the craft screamed overhead and wheeled around, firing slash harkens at the Knightmares.

["SLASH HARKENS!?"] Kallen yelped as she dodged the incoming rocket anchors. ["ARE THESE THINGS KNIGHTMARES!?"]

" _Some new kind of Knightmare capable of independent flight!? We're sitting ducks down here… One option left."_ Lelouch thought.

="This is Zero, all forces regroup at point sigma, head into the city to evade enemy aerial pursuit but be _careful_ and _do not_ fire if civilians are at risk of being hit."= He ordered as they burst onto the main road, the police being delayed due to the confusion.

["Roger."] All replied.

* * *

 **September 2, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Hangar, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["Alert! Alert! Z-01 scramble order confirmed! I repeat, Z-01 scramble order confirmed! Lancelot is to join QRF intercepting Black Knight convoy!"] The PA announced as Suzaku leapt into the Lancelot's cockpit seat and sealed up the Knightmare, inserting the activation key and waiting as he felt the Knightmare be moved and loaded onto a T-4 aerial assault VTOL while alarms blared throughout the building.

"Lieutenant Suzaku Kururugi, Z-01 Lancelot, ready!" He acknowledged as the VTOL was raised to launch deck level and took off into the night sky.

Colonel's face appeared on his screen.

"Sir, what's the situation?"

The Reploid frowned pensively. ["Zero's forces have just kidnapped Duchess Camilla Stadtfeld from Haneda airport, heavy damage to multiple aircraft and vehicles, minor damage to facilities, no police or civilian casualties but over two dozen private military contractors are KIA plus at least one of the Purists from the Kure Chapter. The primary cause seems to be that Reploid from Shinjuku, most of them she just gunned them down without hesitation."]

Suzaku felt rather sick hearing that. "And the pursuit?"

["The Twenty-Eighth test and evaluation squadron's Somersets were deployed with live ammo to engage and pursue the enemy but they've been forced to break off their attack runs when the Black Knights drove into the city, the remainder of the security troops at the Airport have been forced to stick close to home in the event of further attacks so we have no ground eyes on them."]

Suzaku grimaced. "Bastards… Using civilians as shields." He snarled.

["We want you and the Second QRF to engage while the Viceroy, the Executrix, and I bring our troops to bear. The enemy will most likely be attempting to delay our forces while they flee. Maverick Hunter units alongside the Purebloods are also en-route from patrol to assist but the former will take some time to arrive due to traffic."]

"Yes, my lord." Suzaku replied as he waited for the drop order as the VTOL transited at high speed to the engagement area.

" _Zero… Attacking an airport and kidnapping a noble… Particularly one related to one of my friends no less… You need to be stopped."_ He thought grimly as he steeled himself for the battle to come.

* * *

 **September 2, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Command Center, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Colonel sighed and leaned back as he glanced at Cornelia. "I know that Asplund has his reasons but _why_ exactly are we mobilizing this many troops for a show of force mission?" He inquired.

"You forget that my more ambitious siblings and the nobility will pounce on any sign of weakness they see, if I sit back and do nothing it'll mean I'm not vigilant, which makes them bolder." She replied candidly.

"And how does letting Zero slip through the cracks in a deliberately wide open security net make them think otherwise?" He posited, crossing his arms.

Cornelia chuckled in response. "Because it lets my more... _Intelligent_ enemies know that I _could_ stop Zero from taking them if I wanted to, but I _won't_ if they give me a reason to let him have them."

"Ruthless, beautiful, intelligent, and competent, I can see why you have Guilford's eye." Colonel chuckled as Cornelia whacked him with a nearby swagger stick, breaking it on his armor.

"Shut up." She growled.

"Don't make me tell Nonette." He teased smugly.

Cornelia paled. "You wouldn't."

"I would. If she didn't already know."

Cornelia resisted the urge to scream in front of her already confused command staff while Guilford shuffled awkwardly nearby as Darlton gave him a knowing look.

* * *

 **September 2, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement Streets, Area 11.**

"Most of N Group reports that they're in the underground areas now." C2 stated over radio. "P group as well."

[="Continue dispersing, the more that they're trying to search for us over a wider area the less likely they are to find us with what little they've fielded."=] Zero replied.

"Roger… Should we-" C2 began before she suddenly had an odd sensation of vertigo and weightlessness as the van tumbled down the street.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Someone shouted in their harness moments before the armored van crashed into a wall.

C2 immediately extricated herself from her harness and kicked the doors open as the other Black Knights followed suit, checking for their assailant she spotted a Sutherland down the street and immediately fired a buster shot at it, the off-guard Knightmare going down in a heap as its stabilizer flash-melted.

Further away she spotted a pair of UV-1s hovering over the street, Reploid soldiers fast-roping down from the troop bays of each VTOL.

C2 turned to the other Black Knights. "Go! I'll cover you!" She ordered, the half of B group that was with her complying without hesitation and running towards the closest entrance to the underground as she boosted forwards Britannian forces, spinning and knocking over a Knightpolice Glasgow that had tried to flank from a side-street with a well-placed shot to the right knee joint before blowing its head apart with a second, taking advantage of its relative lack of maneuverability due to the predictable ambush route.

Turning back to the task at hand she side-dashed to avoid a volley of rifle fire and a pair of anti-tank rockets. "Damn… Didn't think they had the balls to pull those out…" She hissed, noting that the Britannian mainline Reploids were holding position at the intersection.

She briefly wondered why before immediately dodging as her sensors screamed that someone had a weapons lock on her, narrowly avoiding a blast that tore a gaping hole in the wall she'd been hiding behind, several Britannians inside the storefront diving for cover as debris and masonry flew through the windows, shattering them.

["YOU! I'll GET YOU BACK FOR THAT TORNADO!"] A voice declared as a Pureblood Sutherland raced towards her from out of a different alleyway.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Get lost, I have better things to do than fight your stupid ass." C2 sighed as she changed to the Wood Man data set and simply flung several leaves at the rampaging Sutherland.

Kewell on the other hand blasted away at C2 with the Sutherland's 25mm rifle again, missing her entirely as he hadn't quite locked onto the Reploid.

The leaves didn't miss, and much to C2's surprise, tore the limbs off the Sutherland and caused the cockpit to auto-eject. [" **HOW WAS I DEFEATED BY LEAVES!?** "] Kewell screamed as he flew off into the distance while five more Pureblood units rolled up.

["You wanna try your luck Jeremiah…?"]

["No, because I have no idea what I just watched."] He replied, absolutely befuddled by the event he'd just witnessed. On the upside, hopefully Kewell wouldn't call him 'Orange' anymore.

"I'm just gonna… Forget that happened…" C2 exhaled before fleeing the battlezone, wanting to avoid _anyone else_ showing up and making shit even more intolerable for her.

She got another five blocks before sirens blared and she spotted X approaching on a ride chaser.

Reacting, C2 ducked into an alley.

Which was a total dead end.

 _"Oh crap."_ She thought as she heard metal footfalls behind her.

X lowered his buster as she turned and stared him down.

"I want to talk."

"About what? What's going on with Haneda?" She said, cocking her head as she sighed and kept her own buster trained on him.

"Yeah... This isn't your MO, why kidnap a noble like that after going after only criminals, corrupt officials and the such...?"

She chuckled as she leaned against the wall. "Alright, I'll bite. The reason we did this is so that Reploids don't have to live in fear of being intentionally labeled Maverick by the companies that hold their contracts and get retired by you lot."

The reaction from X was palpable to her.

"I'm guessing you've encountered at least some Reploids that've had that happened to them." She strode forwards and stopped next to X, turning her head slightly and catching his green eyes in with her golden ones. "What did they say before you murdered them...? Or do you even remember?"

"Stop..."

"So naive, such a hypocrite... To think I was supposed to temper your idealism or something... Well since you didn't shoot me first and talk later, I can at least genuinely feel bad about doing this." She whispered before kicking his feet out from under him, and then hopping onto his ride chaser and peeling off into the city on it as X scrambled to his feet and...

Held his fire.

He sighed and lowered his buster. "She's right... I am a hypocrite..." He tapped his comms. "X to command, send me a pickup..."

["Why?"]

"Er... The Black Knights' Reploid just stole my Ride Chaser..."

There was some muffled laughter on the other end of the line. ["Oh man, you're _never_ gonna hear the end of this from _anyone_ X."] The Reploid Navigator chuckled.

He sighed again, much more audibly this time as he contemplated something she'd said to him. _"What did she mean by "I was supposed to temper your idealism"..."_ He racked his memory for answers but found nothing, time and other factors had undermined many of his oldest memories, which had been sacrificed to prevent data corruption.

"Wonderful... The mystery deepens..."

* * *

Elsewhere, Kallen raced down a street, guarding Zero's van.

[="Q1, Q2 has successfully disengaged and evaded both a Maverick Hunter and the Purists."=] Zero informed her. [="Once we've reached Shinjuku you'll head to ground and exit the settlement for the time being, take the prisoner to site seven."=] He ordered.

"What about you?" Kallen asked.

[="I'll be-"] He started before a quartet of slash harkens bracketed the van, causing it to swerve and slow down.

Kallen wheeled her Burai around on reflex. "ZERO! It's that White Knightmare!" She reported as the Lancelot raced up the street after them.

She heard Zero curse over the radio. [="You don't stand a chance against him in a Burai Q1! Evade and ditch the machine again if you have to and meet up with us!"=]

"Roger!" She replied as she opened fire, watching the bullets spark off the Blaze Luminous harmlessly as four Sutherlands and a pair of Knightpolice Glasgows formed up behind the White Knightmare.

Kallen grit her teeth as she weaved around the incoming fire, firing back only to have her shots blocked by the Lancelot's Blaze Luminous yet again. "Such a pest, just go to hell already!" She snarled before using her harkens to jump onto a rooftop, the Lancelot following her as she fired at one of the Sutherlands, taking its head off and forcing it to withdraw.

Suzaku drew the MVS units and swiped at her, Kallen's attempt to block the sword with her stun tonfa, failing spectacularly as the blade sliced clean through the Burai's arm. Kallen turning the unit's torso and ejecting the damaged limb into the Lancelot.

Grunting, Suzaku swatted the Burai shoulder away with the Blaze Luminous and charged at Kallen again, aiming to disable her Frame rather than outright kill her.

Kallen spun her Burai, leg outstretched, only to connect with empty air as the Lancelot dove down on her from above after having anticipated her move and jumped, its feet crashing into the Burai and toppling it to rooftop, before he flipped over her and used the Blaze Luminous like a tennis racquet to bat her down onto the street.

Kallen coughed violently and tasted something metallic in her mouth as she recovered from the impact.

Oh wonderful, now she was suffering from internal bleeding _somewhere_.

She fired the slash harkens to pull the Burai onto its feet and grimaced, blood dribbling down her lip slightly as the Lancelot landed down the block but made no hostile moves, only aiming its VARIS rifle at her.

"Damn you…" She croaked weakly as she put the Burai into a final defiant charge and then ducked under the attempted block before firing an anti-armor grenade, her last one, at its feet while ejecting the Burai's cockpit.

The resulting imbalance stumbled the Lancelot and sent the pride of ASEEC crashing to the asphalt as it literally lost its footing, and then tumbled over the Burai as it plowed into the Knightmare's legs, collapsing into a heap.

* * *

Suzaku snarled and slammed his fist onto the console as a recovery unit moved in to retrieve the Lancelot, which had been immobilized due to battle damage, a group of white and blue Gloucesters from the 501st surrounding it and quickly blocking the white and gold Knightmare from view as radio chatter echoed over his comms system.

["This is Torrent Company, we're moving to recover the Z-01."]

["Copy that."]

["Anyone got eyes on that Red Burai's cockpit?"]

["Negative, looks like Zero recovered them, whoever they were."]

["Roger, calling off the sweep. Damn those guys are quick."]

["You're still broadcasting five-five, cut the chatter."]

["Ffht… Copy that control, won't happen again."]

* * *

 **September 2, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights temporary hideout, Area 11.**

C2 stood on guard duty outside the door to the improvised cell where the Duchess was being held as the Black Knights relaxed as the adrenaline rush went down, with Kallen recuperating from her encounter with the White Knightmare with the help of some of Kusukabe's medics.

She sighed and twirled a couple locks of her 'hair' in between her fingers, humming softly as she waited for Zero to exit the cell.

Lelouch frowned as he glared at the tied-up Duchess, whom shook in fear as she stared at Zero, eyes wide.

"I'll do whatever you want, money, resources, sex, anything! Just let me live!" She cried out.

="This is what the nobility of Britannia is reduced to? Begging for their lives even at the cost of their dignity. For shame, I never had any intent to kill you otherwise I'd have had you gunned down on the tarmac."= Zero stated.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME THEN!?" The hysterical woman shrieked.

" _To think this crone is related to Q1, she's clearly only confident when surrounded by armed and loyal men… I see why she Kallen hates Britannian side of her family no matter how noble her father is… Such a spineless fool who cares only about her own life, yet so callously ordered Reploids to be scapegoated as Mavericks for 'financial reasons'."_ He thought, even _Clovis_ , who'd been begging for his life when he'd been shot, showed more spine at the end than this wretch of a woman.

Calling forth his Geass, Lelouch commanded the eyeslot to open, his Geass putting her in its trance and causing her body to relax, her screaming and sobbing stopping. ="You will inform the Maverick Hunters and the IBI of the crimes committed by you and those of the other Stadtfeld Group CEOs, employees, and board members outside Area 11, you will provide them with _all_ information relevant to their cases. You will believe that this is your decision following the mental trauma of your kidnapping by the Black Knights."=

He paused to take a breath. ="You will also not remember our hideout or its location, nor any other detail relevant to a military or police investigation into our whereabouts or identities."= He ordered.

"Understood…" She replied as Lelouch let his Geass fade and proceeded to blindfold her again, mumbling about how that was an absurdly long command.

="Q2."= He said as he tapped his comms. ="I require you to deposit the prisoner at the edge of the settlement, I'll inform the others of this."=

["Roger."] C2 replied.

Turning, Zero walked out of the cell as C2 replaced him and glanced at the Duchess.

"Pathetic." She scoffed as she picked up the Duchess and walked out, shutting off the light behind her and plunging the room into darkness.

* * *

 **September 3, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch shot up from the couch and checked the clock as sunlight filtered through the window. "TEN AM!? I OVERSLEPT!" He yelped as he frantically rushed towards his room to get changed.

N.N. groaned as she rolled onto her side and tossed one of his shoes at him as he entered loudly. "Pipe down… I'm trying to sleep." She mumbled as he slipped into a fresh uniform.

"I don't have time for your crap, I've already missed one class!"

She opened a crimson eye and looked over at him through locks of blond hair. "And whose fault is that? C2 said she'd bring you the notes anyways if you overslept."

He glared at her.

"That's what I thought." She said before closing her eyes and trying to fall back asleep as Lelouch gathered up his supplies and rushed off to class.

N.N. opened both of her eyes and sat back up. "I wonder how much trouble I could start if I inserted porn into his schoolbag…" She murmured mirthfully before deciding to save that idea for later and laid back down to sleep some more. "No I will not stop considering such ideas... Because it annoys the crap out of you that's why."

* * *

Lelouch rushed into his next class, panting as he sat down next to Suzaku and Rivalz.

"Jeez Lelouch, what's up with you?" Rivalz asked as Suzaku glanced over at his friend.

"Sorry, I overslept, I was up late working on a long-term project." He replied, not _exactly_ a lie really.

"Suit yourself, say, did you hear about that big investigation that's already toppled like a tenth of the Stadtfeld family? Kallen just got a whole lot richer because of it!" Rivalz exclaimed.

Suzaku for his part said nothing, he didn't approve of Zero's methods, but the crimes uncovered because of his actions were far worse.

Lelouch took that as a sign of begrudging acceptance.

"Wow, already?" Lelouch asked, genuinely surprised it was moving this fast.

Rivalz nodded. "Yeah, Baron Andrew Stadtfeld is set to take on the title of Earl after one of his cousins takes the peerage of Duke of Pittsburgh."

Lelouch whistled. "Wow, so does that make Kallen the most highly placed girl at school?" He asked.

"Pretty much, or at least as far as I know." Rivalz said as the he turned on the news on his laptop while they waited.

["In other news, the motion to integrate Area 3 and Area 5 into core Imperial sectors has passed in the House of Lords after the Prime Minister assured the existing peerages that the effects of the integration would minimal influence on their possessions and was signed into law by the Emperor. All former Threes and Fives, including Honorary Britannians, have now been upgraded in status to full Britannians, with all the social, legal and economic benefits such a privilege entails now being available to them."] A male newscaster announced over someone's laptop much to the confusion of the students.

Lelouch grimaced, he'd been banking on Area 3 with its large and discontented population to potentially help service a Rebellion and for Area 5's native population to distract the Britannian Military with a potential threat to their bases on Oahu, but now that they were part of the Homeland proper and their native citizens now proper Britannians, that plan was up in smoke for the moment. Although he could use the inevitable lingering racism against them to his advantage if he played his cards right.

["In international news, the Australian Military has announced the continuation of the hunt for the Mavericks who stole millions in high-end Reploid parts, including several dozen high output solar reactors from a warehouse in Arcadia City earlier this week. And at noon the Chinese ambassador to Britannia will address concerns about Chinese troop movements to Korea at a conference in Pendragon."] The news advertised before Lelouch tuned it out.

"So does this school have a Knightmare Club?" Suzaku asked after thinking about ways to further his skills.

Rivalz nodded. "Yeah, but it's relatively small and isn't accepting anyone new. Besides they're pretty prideful so even if they were they likely wouldn't accept Honorary Britannians."

"I see." Suzaku replied. "So, does Ashford have any Prytwen units or one of the other Glasgow derivatives?"

"I think we have a handful of Prytwens for the competitive team." Lelouch said as he flipped through his textbook.

Suzaku nodded. "Thought so. I was just curious anyways." He admitted.

Lelouch chuckled as she glanced over at his friend.

* * *

 **September 3, 2017 ATB.**

 **JLF HQ, Chiba defensive fortress, Chiba Prefecture, Area 11.**

Katase, Todoh, and a handful of the other JLF leaders sat in a semi-circle as they watched the latest news.

"I've confirmed the markings on the tank as belonging to one of Kusukabe's units, the Panzer-Hummels and Burais are likewise his as well from what we can determine." Major Shinji Nakamura of the former JASDF reported to the other officers.

Captain Mari Hiryuu, of the former JMSDF, and the commander of the _Unryuu_ -class supercarrier _Kasagi_ , which had been hiding in an Indian port for the better part of five years after a daring raid had liberated it and a small fleet from the mothball fleet in Sasebo while the Britannian Navy ran around like headless chickens chasing Marty's pirates after they torpedoed several freighters tied up in Yokohama as a distraction, slammed her fist on the table. "That much is obvious Nakamura! With that much of our former firepower at Zero's command he poses a major threat to Britannia's control of Japan!"

"Then why doesn't he use it?" Todoh asked, finally opening his eyes to join the conversation.

Everyone looked at him. "What do you mean Colonel?" Katase asked as he rubbed his chin.

"Aside from the brief kidnapping of Duchess Stadtfeld, Zero has made no major moves using Kusukabe's troops in combat, only having them act as a support element from what little intel we've gleaned via Kyoto." The man who made the Miracle of Itsukushima replied.

General Hazama frowned and glanced at Katase. "You're thinking he's trying to train his forces?"

Todoh nodded sagely. "Indeed, Zero's realized from his defeat at Saitama that he cannot continue using undisciplined guerrillas in this kind of fighting, you saw the Black Knights at their reveal, every one of them was wearing a uniform specially made for their group, plus full body armor and CB equipment. That's not the sort of equipment you'd associate with terrorists, but with an actual military force."

Commander Hiryuu growled as she leaned back. "Better equipped than most of our infantry as well." She admitted begrudgingly.

Katase closed his eyes. "He's building an army… To liberate Japan for his own purposes no doubt. Keeping our former troops hidden works towards that goal."

Major Nakamura spoke up again. "Can we blame him? We of the JLF are doing the same but we have no idea what exactly we'll do when we've done that, we're just a loose coalition of military factions that only have a coherent identity thanks to our service in the SDF."

Even Todoh didn't have a response to that. "Regardless, Kyoto is transferring over the Burai-Kais to us." He continued.

"Why not the Guren Mark Two?" Hazama questioned.

"After last night's spectacle? I wouldn't be surprised if they gave Zero a _dozen_ Guren units if they had them on order." Hiryuu snorted as she took a drink of her sake.

Todoh closed his eyes again and began to meditate as the conversation turned to the issue of Britannian patrols closing in on the Narita range, which had been arbitrarily named that by the occupation Government.

"We may need to begin pulling out and moving to the next fortress in the line." Todoh stated.

"Yes… The Britannians are closing in aren't they…" Katase murmured as he glanced at the map on the wall showing sightings of Britannian recon units.

"Indeed… But we can't mass evacuate our forces without inviting a preemptive strike from their air force, Colonel Amada's wing is all that's left of the ASDF and the GSDF air units and he's still on the fence as to whether or not he'll throw in his lot with Zero." Nakamura sighed.

"Troubling…" Hazama mumbled as he crossed his arms.

Everyone fell silent at that.

Todoh looked up and opened his eyes. _"What will the coming days bring…"_ He thought warily as he meditated.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11**.

C2 walked over to Lelouch on the rooftop of one of the academy buildings after his latest class and leaned against the railing.

"So what did you call me up here for?" She asked, despite being well aware of exactly _why_ he'd pressed the urgency of meeting him.

"At Haneda airport... Speaking plainly, what the hell happened there?" He inquired, a short pause passing before C2 sighed and leaned her head back.

"I don't know... I think it was a leftover personality bit from Vile, apparently I copy more than _just_ the weapons data and control programs, and since the guy's been screwy since he was brought online..."

"Define 'screwy', all I have to go with is second hand information and that mostly relates to combat potential."

"Well you'd sooner die than let a sociopath like him within a city block of Nunnally without any form of oversight capable of wiping him off the face of the earth in an instant." She replied.

There was pregnant pause before Lelouch finally responded. "I see... I don't want you using that data set unless you absolutely have to, if no further issues pop up _without_ using it, wipe it from your databanks." He instructed her.

She threw him a mock salute. "Yessir."

"Stop that."

"So, how's Kallen doing...?" C2 inquired after a moment.

"Better, her injuries were relatively minor and they actually helped authenticate her cover story here at school." He informed her lazily.

"In short she's pissed and wants a rematch with that White Knightmare." C2 translated, filling in the gaps mentally based on what she knew about Kallen.

"Oh absolutely." Lelouch replied with a smirk.

* * *

 **AN:** **U** **nlike the last original content chapter I'm somewhat more proud of this, largely due to the more coherent action backed by the smaller character and world building moments.**

 **As for the mention of the Glinda Knights? Military units don't just materialize out of thin air despite what you may be lead to believe by the Oz Manga, it takes time to organize materials and locate and train potential candidates for such a... Unique... Formation, especially one that important. So the Glinda Knights are basically formed here in response to the rise in insurgent activity since Zero's stunt in 'rescuing' Suzaku.**

 **Also to head off any offense people might take, I'm not dissing Kallen here at all, the fact that she isn't just outright jobbing against a now fully equipped Lancelot in what basically amounts to a Glasgow is a testament of both her skill and the fact that Suzaku _holds back._** **He could easily have killed every single core member of the Black Knights at Shinjuku before it even formed but chose not to because until the ending of R1 he's an idealist who doesn't kill if he doesn't _absolutely_ have to.**


	11. Stage 11: Refrain

**AN: And here's the refrain episode.**

 **Expect some repercussions from the previous chapter to spill over.**

 **Also as comical as Classic Search Man is due to Wily's incompetence in not giving him a second personality, the idea of a sniper-type robot master is something rather insidious when you think about it.**

 **Also C2's Search Man data form is basically more heavily inspired by SearchMan,.EXE , because he is the Search Man we needed, but not the one we deserved. And yes, I know how it's actually spelled, the site just absolutely loathes anything that looks like a URL because IIRC a few authors posted NSFW links or something else they really shouldn't have in their stories and the staff went apeshit as a result.**

 **So RIP Megaman EXE stuff that tries to be as accurate as possible.**

 **That and the people who outright copy pasted entire stories because they literally cannot be bothered to write their own, meaning that any work you want to redo but can't due to data loss or massive inconsistencies with the original files has to be painstakingly retyped by hand as a result.**

 **Thank god they let us keep our posted docs for a year at max now rather than only 90 days like it was only a few months ago.**

 **Also I chose the first names for Kallen's Mother and Stepmother (both of whom have no given canon first names) very deliberately rather than just flicking through a list of names and picking ones that I liked, looking up the meanings for both would be helpful to understand why I chose them.**

* * *

 **September 5, 2017 ATB.**

 **Stadtfeld Residence, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Kallen laid out on her bed, asleep on her stomach and clad only in a pair of panties, exhausted from the constant raids on crime syndicates as her radio played in the background.

Admittedly it was still less exhausting than going directly after Maverick groups or the Military.

["Work crews have finished clearing the last of the debris from around the site of the Lake Kawaguchi hotel and convention center."] A radio host announced as he read off the news.

["It's been roughly two weeks since Zero revealed of the Black Knights, and aside from the upset two days ago at Haneda Airport they've kept a mostly low profile, avoiding direct confrontation with the Britannian military and law enforcement. Additionally, there's been next to no insight regarding the man behind the mask."]

["Nobody traced his escape route at Lake Kawaguchi?"] The co-host asked.

["They let the hostages go and somehow made it to the other shore, and further incidents involving the Black Knights show careful escape planning indicative of a skilled leader."]

Kallen mumbled as she rolled her head to the right, before a loud crash woke her from her slumber with a start, the girl slipping out of bed and putting a bathrobe over herself to maintain some decency.

Opening her bedroom door, Kallen looked about the hallway and spotted her biological mother, Maki Kozuki kneeling on the floor, a broken ladder _and_ lamp next to her and frowned at the woman as she panicked and gasped at her mistake.

" _Mother… You're going to get beaten again for this…"_ Kallen thought sadly, wondering why her foolish mother wouldn't just leave this place, when even the _Ghettos_ would be better for her.

She'd noticed her father's drinking had only increased since his ex-wife's lot in life had gotten worse, whether that meant the man felt sorry for her or regretted the choices he'd made or been forced into was something she honestly didn't care about much.

Finally noticing her, Maki turned to face Kallen. "Ah Kallen… I mean, Mistress… Forgive me, I didn't wish to wake you…" She apologized.

"Again…?" Kallen asked, it'd be the seventh time they'd replaced that specific lamp.

Any other maid would've been fired long by now, yet her father had adamantly refused to kick Maki out on the street the one time anyone had pressed him about it.

Or at least that's as much as she got from overhearing the other maids grumble.

Her mother looked over at the broken stepladder. "I'm sorry, it was the stepladder this time, it broke when I tried to reinstall the lamp…"

Kallen's face hardened. "Well just get it cleaned up, I have to get ready for school." She ordered, harsher than she'd admit she wanted to.

Maki turned back to Kallen, seeming rather… Happy at that news. "Mistress, you've been attending classes rather frequently lately, have you made any friends there?" She asked.

Kallen glared at her. "I don't see how that's any of your business." She snapped at her estranged mother and walked back into her room, slamming the old-style swing door behind her.

"Why won't you just leave… Just go… Will you…" She choked out.

* * *

 **September 4, 2017 ATB.**

 **Yokohama Docks, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11**

"I know it's for welfare, but why waste it on the Elevens?" A Britannian businessman asked slyly as trucks were loaded with food and medicine discreetly. Reploid and Britannian workers glancing at eachother briefly and then continuing, not caring about the moral implications if the pay was good enough.

"That's why I'm selling it to you my friend. The Eleven population could use a little _thinning out_ if you ask me." His associate jeered.

* * *

Outside, C2's visor flickered as she utilized Search Man's dataset to scan the building with the variety of sensors now at her command, much like a pseudo-factsphere.

"Count approximately five guards armed with SMGs, two with shotguns, the other seven have automatic carbines, for fourteen in total, everyone else is a noncombatant, although many of them could have pistols on hand so be careful." She relayed as she looked through the crosshairs of her homing sniper launcher, the barrel of her buster having extended out a couple feet like a sniper rifle, with a linked variable zoom targeting camera sitting on the side of the blocky and bulky weapons system as she observed from her nest at the top of a crane that wasn't currently in use, camouflaged via electronic paint to blend in with the structure from a distance.

[="Roger that Q2, we're moving in, continue overwatch until ordered otherwise."=]

"Copy that." She replied as she tracked over to Zero and the squad he'd chosen for this op before returning her sights to the warehouse, watching Zero and the others troop over and take positions outside the warehouse door.

[="Take the shot when you're ready."=] Zero informed her as she prepped an explosive round.

She mentally squeezed the trigger.

And her inbuilt weaponry obeyed her command.

* * *

"Your payment will be transferred to your wife's account." The buyer informed his corrupt counterpart whom smirked and looked over at him.

"What about the authorities?"

"Princess Cornelia is a soldier, things like this don't interest her all that much. And Colonel lacks the resources to crack down on _everything_ as we quickly discovered. While the settlement's police force is inept and otherwise hindered by corrupt leadership." He boasted confidently.

An explosion shook the building, followed by the breaker tripping and plunging the entire warehouse into darkness, illuminated by the flashes of gunfire.

"Hit the lights! Turn them on!" The seller shouted as the buyer ran over to the breakers and hit the master switch, the lights turning on to reveal all the present Black Knights standing on a catwalk above them, with C2 standing just to the side of Zero, still with the Search Man data loaded and her sniper barrel resting in her left hand.

"You're! You're the!" He gasped.

* * *

 **September 5, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"THE BLACK KNIGHTS!" Kallen shouted as she shot up, much to the amusement of her classmates, some of whom began laughing.

"Miss Stadtfeld were you even paying attention? What relevance do the Black Knights have to do with when Empress Claire li Britannia led her forces against the usurpers during the First Britannian Civil War? The teacher questioned as Kallen blushed furiously and sat down.

"My apologies… I dozed off…" She admitted as the others continued laughing.

" _Stupid Britannians and their stupid Ascension Calendar, half the time it's identical to the Gregorian one but the other half I just can't tell…"_ She fumed internally.

The Britannian propensity to re-write history didn't help either, nor did that of other nations as the only mostly unbiased historical sources came from neutral Australia and pre-invasion Japan, and even those only mutually agreed that the current year in the Ascension calendar was equal to the year 1962 in the Gregorian calendar.

Hell, she'd even read an obscure reference in a Japanese sourcebook telling of a young man of Britannian and Japanese blood who'd aided then Prince Charles zi Britannia during his rise but had mysteriously vanished following the Britanno-Soviet War.

Said reference was not repeated _once_ in _any_ Britannian textbook she'd checked, which made her believe it had been removed to help justify oppressing the Elevens.

 _"This is why I hate Britannians..."_

* * *

"That's not like you, dozing off in class like that…" Shirley observed as she and Rivalz talked to Kallen once class had ended.

"You could learn a thing or two from Lelouch, he's an _expert_ in sleeping in class." Rivalz half-joked as he gestured over at Lelouch.

"Huh…? He's not sleeping now is he?" Kallen asked as they all turned to look at Lelouch, who was dozing off in the corner with his head looking out the window, having propped himself up just the right way with his right arm so that he wouldn't collapse onto his desk while an irate looking C2 stood next to him with a notepad.

"Nobody knows just what he's up to, night after night, but he sleeps through half of his classes these days, if it weren't for C2 taking notes for him his grades would've plummeted!" Rivalz informed her.

Kallen began to question whether or not Lelouch might actually be Zero again, the schedules were rather coincidental, too coincidental.

There was an audible slap as C2 whacked Lelouch on the head with the notepad, jolting him awake.

"Gah! What was that for!" He shouted at the Reploid, who looked away with a wry smirk on her face.

Or maybe not…

* * *

 **September 5, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace rail staging area, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"The EU has begun staging for an offensive on the Egyptian border near Area 18 after claiming Britannian naval forces fired upon their shipping near the Suez, we believe that their political leaders are attempting to use a war with Britannia to distract the populace from their utter defeat against the Soviets in that relatively short conflict, a rather idiotic choice given that they _lost_ wouldn't you say?" Cornelia explained to Euphie, whom nodded in agreement as another transport monorail rolled into the station.

"We can't keep dragging our feet here forever, it's high time Area 11 became a proper satellite nation. We need to stamp out terrorism of course, but another major problem is the rampant use of Refrain by the Elevens creating a massive demand for it in the Area. I assume the Executrix has made you aware of the effect on productivity?" Cornelia asked.

"Yes Viceroy." Euphie replied. "She did so upon her arrival."

"Repliforce has already cut off the links put in place by the mob but the demand is now being filled by the Chinese Federation through the Triads via the Kyushu route. I've directed Colonel to deploy additional Repliforce units to Area 11 to help the Naval patrols based in Kure interdict anything coming in. We have to put an end to this." Cornelia informed her sister.

"Yes Viceroy but, be careful on the front."

"You as well, I don't want you leaving the settlement unless absolutely necessary, you're too vulnerable out there."

"Cornelia… What about the Black Knights and Zero?"

"Even considering the Stadtfeld incident, which I cannot address militarily due to my extant commitments, nor do I care to since the Purist's have been hostile to my administration from the start, they've really done nothing of issue for us so I'll let them roam free a little longer. I owe them as much for saving your life. However, when I return..." She gently cupped Euphie's cheek in her hand, surprising her sister with the informality.

"Once I return and clean up this Area, I'm going to begin the transition of power as I'm entrusting it to _you_ as its new Viceroy. As I'm one of the Empire's High Generals I cannot be tied down for too long governing an Area. So try to stay out of harm's way from now on, alright Euphie?" She asked her sister. "Oh and don't forget to keep looking for your Knight." She reminded Euphie as she walked away.

Euphie frowned pensively, remembering Zero's words to her.

 _="Because Clovis was an offspring of the Britannian Emperor. That reminds me… You're one of his children too… Aren't you? But I suppose for now, I'll let you live."=_

She watched Cornelia depart. _"When he spoke to me that night… What was he alluding to? Oh Suzaku… What would you make of all this? About what Zero's doing… And of_ me _?"_

* * *

 **September 5, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence/Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

Kallen leaned on the door to the student council's meeting room and yawned, a tear forming in her left eye as she stood there. "Man, this double life is a killer…" She murmured before hearing someone, probably Milly, shout from inside the room.

"Come on Suzaku! Hold him down!"

"Damnit Suzaku cut it out!"

 _That_ was definitely Lelouch.

She looked up and put on her mask before opening the door and walking in to find… Nina wearing a tiger hoodie… Thing…

"Stop it I'm not kidding!" Lelouch protested quite angrily.

Her vision panned over to see the rest of the Council dressed in cat costumes with Suzaku and Rivalz holding Lelouch still in a chair while Shirley painted whiskers on his face.

He was also _tied up_ , likely to prevent escape.

"Sorry Lelouch, but it's the President's orders…" Suzaku apologized earnestly.

" _Okay what the hell is this…?"_ Kallen wondered as she spotted C2 off to the side, the Reploid doing an amazing impression of an aggravated cat after having had a pair of ears shoved onto her head and whiskers glued to her face.

"Oh like you're not enjoying this at all!"

"Will you hold still!" Shirley demanded as Lelouch struggled.

Milly noticed Kallen and turned to face her, lightly swiping one of her paw like gloves at the newcomer. "Oh! Good _meowning_!"

"Good… Morning… I guess…?" Kallen replied, still processing what she was witnessing.

The others, or at least those who weren't tied up, meaning everyone but Lelouch, turned to face Kallen.

"What is all this…?"

"Whaddya mean? Didn't we tell you? This is our welcome party for Arthur." Rivalz explained as said cat yawned while lying on his perch.

"Sounds like fun…" Kallen mumbled Nina typed away in the background.

Milly giggled. "Well classes are postponed following the announcement of the Viceroy's departure for the Middle East, so we might as well have some fun riiight?" Milly posited smarmily.

Shirley stood up again after finishing up some detailing on Lelouch's facepaint. "I set some stuff aside for you, over here!" She pointed at a rack containing cat costumes of various levels of decency. "To make up for my getting all upset before. Take your pick!"

"What? For me?"

Lelouch stood up straighter and smirked at her. "She doesn't need a costume."

"What…?"

"You're already wearing a mask, right?" He asked her smugly, Kallen making an angry pout at him before shifting her expression to one that best described someone totally unimpressed.

"You really are a riot you know that? You outta be on television since you've already got the butt of the joke part down." She snarked at him.

Rivalz turned to look at Shirley. "What do you think miss TV star?" He asked her jokingly.

"Oh, I thought she meant Lelouch?" Suzaku asked, not getting the point.

"Will you quit joking about that!" Shirley stated, rather annoyed. "The whole thing is a massive pain in the ass! We've been hounded with questions day and night about it! Even in the bath! C2's managed to avoid being noticed so far because she wasn't taken hostage like we were!"

"We haven't been able to leave school grounds in a week thanks to all the reporters either…" Milly added, exasperated by the media coverage.

"Not that I don't feel for you, but why are me and Lelouch stuck here as well?! I'm lucky my boss understands exactly just who I'm dealing with!" Rivalz demanded.

"That's the price of friendship I guess, but well, Kallen doesn't live on campus and Suzaku is required to report in for his duties and to return to the barracks every day, so the last thing I need is MPs breaking down the door and hauling him off because I kept him too long." She explained. "But, to quote the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it matters not if we were born apart, upon this day we die as one!" She explained with crossed arms.

"That's your idea of a love quote…?"

Milly made a pawing motion with a smirk on her face. "If _I_ go down we _all_ do."

"I refuse." C2 remarked from the side, earning a light glare from Milly.

"Dang… That's pretty dark, right Suzaku?" Rivalz asked as he looked up at Suzaku, whom was on the verge of tears.

"I'm glad… That we could all be… Together again… You know… Like this…?" He choked out.

Lelouch smiled softly, well aware of the part he'd played in that, whether anyone else would ever know or not was irrelevant.

"Hey! We're supposed to be unwinding in here!" Rivalz shouted as he leapt over Lelouch using the latter's shoulders as a springboard and suplexing the crying teenager into the carpet, everyone beginning to laugh as Milly waggled a finger at C2 after catching her trying to rip the whiskers off.

"That's what's so refreshing about Suzaku though." Shirley noted happily.

"Yeah but sometimes you just want him to get a clue you know?" Milly responded.

On the floor, Rivalz squeezed Suzaku's face, making odd shapes with his mouth.

"Shorry aboht dat…" Suzaku apologized, or at least attempted to.

"Aww you love it puddy cat!"

Nina giggled from the desk where she was working as C2 turned back to the shelves full of records, a smirk on her face as she stowed her phone back in a pocket after recording the incident.

" _It's so funny to think I helped save their lives…"_ Kallen thought as she smiled, a rare genuine one for her sickly persona.

* * *

 **September 5, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

" _Ever since the hotel hijacking, the Black Knights have taken the world by storm…"_ Kallen thought as she walked through a park. _"We've become a friend to the weak, just as Zero proclaimed we would…"_

" _Terrorists who involve civilians… An overbearing military… Criminal syndicates, corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, nobles and profiteers… Even Mavericks."_ She thought as she watched two children rush by her, playing 'Zero'.

" _If the law would not punish them…_ We _would. In the blink of an eye, we became heroes, to Elevens and even many common Britannians alike surprisingly enough, not to mention some groups of Reploids. Support for us has swelled, and we've even gotten our hands on some new Knightmare models now."_ She thought. _"Of course… Nobody is willing to say as much… Not when doing so is social, and at times_ literal _, suicide under Britannia…"_

One of the children was stopped by his mother whom seemed rather scared by his innocent actions. "Stop playing as a Black Knight this instant!"

"But why…?"

"You mustn't say anything ill of Britannia! We're Elevens remember!" She instructed him, the boy deflating visibly as she led him away.

" _Because our leader Zero… Killed Prince Clovis… There are many in our ranks who wish to know his true identity, myself included… Only the equally enigmatic Reploid, Q2, seems to know anything. But I suspect if we push too hard on either of them, they'd both vanish, leaving us to Britannia's tender mercies…"_ She thought morbidly.

* * *

 **September 6, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch walked down the steps of the student council clubhouse, Rivalz working on his bike nearby.

"Hey there pal." He said without looking over at Lelouch. "Haven't seen you much lately."

"Really?"

"Yeah really…" Rivalz replied to him. "What's up with you, you've been so… Aloof recently."

"I've had a lot on my mind." Lelouch said as he walked off, leaving Rivalz alone as N.N. watched from the window of Lelouch's room.

* * *

"I warned you, that you'd be isolated by Geass." She whispered before closing the curtains and heading over to Lelouch's laptop, logging in and switching to incognito mode to look up something.

* * *

 **September 6, 2017 ATB.**

 **JLF HQ, Narita Range, Area 11.**

The Four Holy Swords sat seiza in a semi-circle facing Todoh, who was meditating in the shrine room inside the HQ.

"Why would the masses flock around those who saved Euphemia?" Urabe asked the others as they continued an ongoing conversation about the Black Knights.

"Even Kyoto has said that they'd send the Black Knights the Guren Mark Two…" Senba added.

"To those would-be Robin Hoods?" Asahina questioned, surprised by that information.

"They're _not_ part of the resistance, killing Oe and his men was proof of that." Chiba interjected rather heatedly.

"Lieutenant Oe killed himself didn't he?" Urabe corrected her, somewhat confused.

"Well, I hear they didn't try to stop him." Senba stated as he turned to look at Urabe. "In any case by housing the deserter Kusukabe and his troops, they've taken a stance _against_ the JLF, Lieutenant Colonel Todoh, we can't just let this insult stand!"

Todoh remained silent despite hearing Senba's statement, deep in contemplative thought.

* * *

 **September 6, 2017 ATB.**

 **Stadtfeld Residence, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Mistress Kallen! Mistress Kallen!" Maki called out as Kallen walked down the stairs towards the main entrance to the mansion seeing Milly and C2 standing there next to her biological mother.

"Madame President? C2?"

Milly smiled at her. "We just dropped by to give you something."

"Where would you like me to show them to?" Maki asked. "The parlor perhaps or maybe-"

"We'll be in my room." Kallen informed her quickly.

"As you wish…"

"Oh, I heard you had a friend down here." A snooty voice announced from above, Kallen turning to see her step-mother, Portia Stadtfeld, on the staircase above her. "I was sure it would be a _boy_ , out all night and missing school, not to mention all your visits to the _Ghetto_. Although one of those _tin toys_ might be up your alley after all." She sneered, glaring at C2.

The Reploid narrowed her eyes at Portia. "I don't like her… At all…" She whispered to Milly, who elbowed her in response.

Kallen scowled at the woman as she continued. "You're lucky your father is back in the homeland dealing with the aftermath of that business with your aunt Camilla. No fighting one's _blood_ is there?" Portia taunted as Maki edged away from the door.

That did it.

" _You're_ the one who's enjoying dad not being around here aren't you?" Kallen retorted with a sneer of her own. "I'm not deaf _or_ stupid, especially since I've noticed the number of your _friends_ and _business partners_ who've stayed _overnight_ every time he's been away." She snapped, her step-mother scowling back at her.

Any further discussion was interrupted by the sound of a water-filled vase smashing, Kallen jumping slightly and turning to face her mother who'd knocked a vase off its pedestal.

"Oh dear… What've I done…" She gasped in shock.

"What's wrong with you!?" Portia demanded as Maki trembled while trying to figure out how to clean up the mess.

"Forgive me Milady… Forgive me…" Maki apologized again as she took the largest piece of the vase and began putting the shards into it after flipping it over into a bowl-like shape.

"Can't you do _anything_ right?! Besides selling your _body_ that is, I don't understand why Andrew tolerates your presence when you're so _useless_!" Portia snarled as she headed back upstairs, Milly and C2 walking over to Kallen.

"Should we…"

The redhead shook her head. "Just leave it… I'm used to this circus by now…" Kallen replied somewhat cynically as they headed upstairs and to her room.

* * *

"Quite the complicated home life you have isn't it…" Milly finally said after they'd sat down at a table in Kallen's room.

"So what was it that you wanted to give me?" Kallen asked, ignoring the statement.

"Grandfather asked me to pass this on." Milly said as she rummaged around in her satchel.

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "The Headmaster… What for?"

Milly placed a blue letter with the seal of Ashford Academy on it down on the table. "Your transcripts since middle school."

Kallen's stared at it in confusion before her eyes widened in sudden realization, speechless.

"I thought I'd better give them to you _off of_ school grounds given what Suzaku's been going through along with the Japanese students in the middle school and elementary classes…" Milly admitted.

Kallen's face set in a stern look as she sat up straighter. "So my secret's out then… Isn't it… That I'm actually a half-blooded Britannian with an Eleven mother…"

"It's only known between me, Grandfather, C2, and Lelouch."

"Lelouch…? But… How?"

"Lelouch may not care about a lot of things, but he's more perceptive than most people give him credit for, C2 was the one who found the transcripts in our records on his initiative and informed Grandfather before anyone else."

The Reploid nodded at her. "Indeed, I found it half buried in the files."

Kallen sighed. "That woman on the stairs was obviously my step-mother… Father married her as part of a political arrangement between her family and his, but since she couldn't bear children he requested that Naoto and I be adopted and hidden as Britannians."

C2 frowned, it would've been relatively simple for the Baron to find a _Britannian_ mistress to sire his children if he truly _only_ cared about lineage like many nobles, but stayed her tongue lest it set Kallen off, the girl was so blinded by her own pride that she couldn't see the facts sitting in front of her face.

"Then…"

"My biological mother was that clod of a maid downstairs who knocked over the vase…"

"And your father… Is he the head of the Stadtfeld family?" Milly asked, Kallen shaking her head as she looked at her transcripts.

"Only of this circus of a household… The man hasn't been the same since my older brother was killed by Mavericks a couple years back." Kallen admitted, using a version of the truth to throw off Milly.

"Oh… I'm sorry for your loss…" Milly replied.

She looked down at the paper as C2 observed every bit of information she could, hoping to relay it to Lelouch later. "Do you believe your mother could be abusing substances? She seemed indecisive for longer than even an inexperienced maid should be." C2 asked more candidly than she hoped it would sound.

"Given how often she's beaten and harassed I wouldn't be surprised." Kallen said rather harshly, surprising even herself with the amount of resentment in her tone.

"My mother is such a fool, falling in love with a Britannian. In the end she wound up his servant, she has no real skills, and no matter who's ridiculing her she can only laugh like it's nothing or just keep apologizing. She didn't have to _choose_ to stay in this house you know? Even the Ghettos would be better for her than here." Kallen said, letting loose her feelings as she finally had people she could _talk_ to about this other than Ohgi, who'd known her and her family since his student teaching days before the invasion. "She's just clinging to some old lover who's _jilted_ her."

"You really hate your mother don't you…" Milly noted as C2 looked at the teacups, wondering what they cost since Lelouch was one cup short of a set now.

"I just find her _depressing_." Kallen corrected her, even if she didn't entirely believe it herself.

Milly seemed increasingly off-put by this, as it was a far cry from her usual happy-go-lucky antics. "Well this is getting rather heavy… Imagine, the wife, and the daughter, and the other woman all living together…"

"If this wasn't so depressing it would be an interesting comedy idea…" C2 noted dryly as she picked up a scone, thankful that Kallen remembered she _preferred_ to ingest food into her catalytic engine.

"I mean It could be worse right? Three square meals and a roof over your head. It's not unbearable… Most of the time anyway…"

"That's good…" Milly said before looking out the window towards the Viceory's Palace as a pair of fighter jets screamed into the air in the distance after taking off from O'Hare field. "Still, some things in life we can bear on our own. But when you add 'em all up, they can eventually break you."

C2 frowned pensively and looked down at her plate, thinking about Lelouch and the burdens he chose to bear, and those _she_ chose to bear as well…

And about X.

"Oh don't worry, I won't lie, I'm always hungry for secrets… But something like this is forbidden territory and you can be sure I'll keep quiet about it."

"And what about C2 and Lelouch…?"

"Lelouch has his own fair share of secrets, as does C2 no doubt given how she just appeared out of the blue one day."

The Reploid for her part remained silent, neither confirming nor denying Milly's statement.

Kallen glanced at C2, noting her silence.

* * *

Alone in her quarters, Maki trembled and gasped as the withdrawal symptoms got worse, ignoring the hateful messages written on her walls by her 'colleagues' and pulling out an old-style key from under her bed, unlocking one specific drawer with it.

Inside was an injector and _numerous_ vials of refrain.

Shaking still, she picked up the injector and uncapped the next vial in line, inserting it into the injector's socket, and placed the device against her arm after rolling up a sleeve, gasping as she fumbled with the trigger.

She pulled it and, as the refrain entered her bloodstream, she eventually faded into a happy memory.

* * *

 **September 6, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence/ Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"I still can't believe you teared up." Lelouch told Suzaku as he read a magazine article about Zero while the other boy fumbled through a box of cat toys, conversing about the Lake Kawaguchi incident.

"It's called _honesty_." Suzaku replied with mild frustration at Lelouch's continued stonewalling of his own feelings before grunting as he pulled Arthur out of the box, the cat latched onto his hand with his teeth.

Lelouch glanced briefly over to see what had happened before turning back to the article. "Well, good thing the Black Knights were there to save them, that's all I can say."

Suzaku gently lowered Arthur back into the box. Gasping as the cat released him, pleased with his decision as he began to climb up his 'palace' of cat scratching posts. "I wonder… If they wanted to catch criminals so much, why didn't they just join the police force you know?" Arthur meowed in what seemed like agreement.

"Perhaps they think the Police are too full of toadying, corrupt, imbeciles to be effective, based on their track record against the criminal syndicates in Area 11 so far I tend to agree with them since only Repliforce has achieved any real results aside from the Black Knights." Lelouch stated.

Suzaku turned to Lelouch. "The police may not be that effective right now, but if better officials and procedures were put into place as part of reforms we might see some _real_ change!"

"Yeah and in the process they get all tangled up in red-tape and bureaucracy." Lelouch snarked cynically.

"Maybe if they'd done everything in their power to change things that might hold water, as long as they don't it's just self-righteous posturing!" Suzaku retorted as Arthur swiped repeatedly at his head.

"Self-righteous?" Lelouch whispered, wondering what Suzaku meant by that.

"And what constitutes evil in their eyes? What standards are they using? It's nothing but self-satisfying gratification against people they feel who've wronged them. For god's sake they _hung_ a man in a public space. That's something you'd expect from a Yakuza turf war or any number of crime syndicates sending a message to people challenging them, not a bunch of supposed _'Knights of Justice'_!" Suzaku mocked, Lelouch flinching as he realized that Suzaku _did_ have a point about the public hanging.

The door hissed open, Lelouch, Arthur and Suzaku turning to look at Shirley as she walked in.

"Oh it's just you two?" She asked as Suzaku stood up.

"Anyways, I've gotta be heading back to base pretty soon. See you around Shirley." He said, giving Shirley a wink as he walked out.

"Oh… See you later." She replied before turning to Lelouch, whom simply scowled and turned back to his magazine.

Shirley steeled herself and walked towards Lelouch.

"So Lulu- I was… Uhm… I was thinking if you had some time you and I-" Shirley began to ask, blushing more than a bit.

"Back to base… Now that was an interesting choice of words…" He stated, totally ignoring Shirley whom was taken aback by that.

"Go back… Implying that's where he thinks he belongs…" Lelouch muttered.

* * *

 **September 6, 2017 ATB.**

 **Sector 2-1-4 Mall District, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Explain Refrain to me." C2 requested as she and Kallen stood over the Ometsandou Mall, one of the few pre-invasion Japanese areas to fully survive the occupation, mostly due to its commercial nature.

Even then it'd been heavily remodeled by the Britannians when it was incorporated into the settlement hive city, which C2 found rather impractical due to the logistical requirements of building these immense megastructures in the first place, let alone carefully ripping apart old buildings or areas just to emplace them atop the new surface plating while doing so.

Although she did read somewhere that worker frames, Reploids, and Mechaniloids allowed the Area 11 settlement hives to be built within record time, so perhaps they could spare the funding.

Her train of thought was stopped by Kallen speaking up about Refrain, C2 logging that only a mere fraction of a second had passed since she'd begun that line of thought about the hive cities. "According to someone I know, it's a psychotropic drug that was originally developed for medical purposes as an amnesia cure among other things, but it's side effects led it to be pulled from the market almost immediately. People tend to get lost in these memories, and between the feeling of Euphoria from them and the actual physical addiction…" Kallen said as the two watched Honorary Britannians, Reploids and Britannians alike scurry about below. "It's been deliberately targeted at the Japanese because we have the most to remember from before our conquest by Britannia, although there's been rumors of rampant abuse _inside_ the homeland and other Areas among the unemployed and homeless who've been cast aside as failures by society."

"I see… I've read about a program that's common among Japanese Reploids that functions similarly… It's even more dangerous as most of them end up frying their processors within a few days of first using it…" C2 acknowledged.

"Yeah… It's bad…"

* * *

Kallen sighed as she checked her phone, having ditched C2 briefly while the Reploid purchased something for Lelouch on Milly's orders to make a call to Ohgi, hanging up before the Reploid rejoined her.

"Come on you stupid Eleven! Say something!" Someone sneered, catching their attention.

"You are _sorry_ aren't you?" Another Britannian taunted as a gang of five of them harassed a beaten up looking hot dog salesman.

Another smirked and opened his mouth as well. "Bowing your heads is what you Elevens do _best_ right?" He jeered as Kallen clenched her fists, while the honorary Britannians around them continued about their business, even a handful of Britannians and Reploids looking less than pleased by the public harassment of a hot dog salesman who really hadn't done anything wrong other than be a few seconds late for an order.

Several other customers who'd wished to order from the stand had irately walked off, muttering under their breath about imbeciles holding up their time.

C2 placed a hand on Kallen's shoulder to stop her as she started towards the group. "They'll kill you like a small dog, so instead let your anger be as though a monkey on a treadmill… Confused and tripping around."

"What does…? Are you okay C2?" Kallen asked, concerned about her given the randomness of the statement.

The Reploid blinked as she realized what she'd just said. "I may need to defragment my drives later…"

"That's the understatement of the year." A familiar voice joked as Lelouch walked over.

"Lelouch?" Kallen noted, looking over at him.

"She's right you know, even in a roundabout manner. There's five of them so you wouldn't stand a chance without some kind of weapon." He observed, glancing at a pair of Maverick Hunter grunts standing nearby, both looking rather irate but helpless since beating a number in the streets _wasn't_ a crime unless they ended up dead.

That the courts still routinely upheld manslaughter charges for that whenever the defense attempted to claim their clients never intended to commit murder was a small blessing, although as usual the nobility would walk with barely a slap on the wrist.

"So you think I should just ignore it?" Kallen questioned.

He turned to look at the beating. "Go on, look at that Eleven." He told her. "If we intervene and help him win, he wouldn't be able to sell a thing tomorrow. It's his choice to become a Britannian slave… And that's just the price you pay for working in a settlement." He observed cynically.

"Well even so…"

"You got a problem over there? Not feeling sorry for this Eleven are you?" One of the thugs asked as they leered at the three.

" _Mongrels…"_ C2 thought as she resisted her urge to just snap the neck of their leader, were the area less public she'd probably have returned the favor to the five of them for the hapless Japanese man.

"Nah."

"They feel the same way we do? Don't you guys?" One of them stated.

Lelouch smirked and closed his eyes. "Not quite." He said as they stopped, glaring at him.

He opened his eyes and the Geass flared to life unbeknownst to Kallen, although C2 had somewhat anticipated his usage of it.

"But you're tired of beating up Elevens now… Aren't you?" He instructed them as his Geass rewrote their neurons.

"Yeah… This is boring."

"You guys wanna hit the arcade?"

"I've got no cash…"

"Heh, sucks to be you."

Kallen watched them walk away, bemused as to their sudden change in heart as she glanced between Lelouch and them several times.

"Well they got bored pretty quick huh?" He noted as if it was just natural.

"Indeed." C2 concurred as she watched Kallen rush over to the Eleven man as he struggled to get up before discreetly shooting a glare at Lelouch for abusing his Geass like that over something that was admittedly rather trivial compared to a life or death struggle.

The boy shrugged and walked over to see if Kallen needed any help.

"Hey? Are you okay?" She asked, the man not noticing her gesture of concern and only seeing her uniform.

"Oh, a Britannian student! What can I get for you? How about a nice California hot dog miss?" He suggested as if he hadn't just been beaten severely within the past few minutes, bewildering Kallen further at the lengths he was going to in order to appease her as a Britannian.

He noticed Lelouch and C2 standing there after hearing the latter's metallic footsteps, which drowned out Lelouch's much softer ones. "Is this your boyfriend? I can get him something too! I have ice cream if you want!" He continued drabbling about as C2 glanced pensively over at the Maverick Hunters as they approached and one knelt down next to him with a medical kit.

"Sorry about this folks, happens a lot after Elevens get assaulted while on the clock… They don't want to be retaliated against for actively seeking medical attention due to on shift injuries." One of them apologized as he bandaged up the protesting hot dog stand operator.

"Calm down Hirota, you'll be back on the job in no time…" The other soothed as she looked at Kallen, subtly gesturing at her that they had the situation in hand.

C2 frowned as Kallen walked back over to her and Lelouch, noting that both Reploids had no less than _four_ full med-kits _each_. "I can't believe this is common enough that Maverick Hunter foot patrols assigned here have extra medical kits…" She whispered rather morbidly.

"Like I said… That's the price you pay for working in the settlement…" Lelouch responded as C2 took the chance to walk off with the bag in hand, Lelouch contemplating stopping her but deciding against it.

"Follow me." Lelouch said as he walked off, Kallen following.

C2 walked over to the bus stop and glanced at the soaring Britannian style skyscrapers mixed with a few of the rebuilt Japanese ones. _"Area 11 has relatively prospered under the Empire… But is all of the death and suffering the Japanese have inflicted upon them worth it…? No… It's not, but their culture is typically one of deference to their social betters in order to avoid conflict based on information from what few materials I've read that existed prior to the invasion."_ She thought, mentally admitting that without having lived among them, she could only speculate based on the words of others.

That said, there was a limit to how much humiliation people could take, for some Japanese, Britannia had already crossed that line.

As for the remainder, something much more drastic had to occur for them to take up arms.

"Well, time to drop this off and head to the meetup point to wait for the Black Knights." She whispered under her breath.

* * *

 **Stadtfeld Residence, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Maki opened the drawer containing her refrain supply after the last vial wore off and trembled in horror as she stared at what remained of her entire stock of it, emptied over the course of the last few hours.

"I need to get more…" She whispered as she slowly stood up to leave.

Nobody would care where she went anyways, even Kallen's goodwill had long since been exhausted.

* * *

 **September 6, 2017 ATB.**

 **The Knightly Stables, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Viletta and Jeremiah sat at the counter of _The Knightly Stables_ , a bar favored by Knightmare pilots in both the Police and Military.

"So about this Orange thing…" Viletta began as Jeremiah grit his teeth. "Sorry to bring it up. Is this whole thing true, that you can't remember anything about that night when Zero absconded with then Private Kururugi?"

"Indeed, I've already been grilled about it extensively by Colonel and Guilford. The latter doesn't quite buy it but he'll follow his Princess's orders." Jeremiah responded. "I should thank my lucky stars that Viceroy Cornelia and I served on Empress Marianne's guard together and that Colonel reminded her of that fact, had I been a random stranger I doubt she would've believed in my sense of duty."

"You got lucky there." Viletta noted. "Unlike Kewell whom Cornelia would've had shot for throwing that chaos mine if cooler heads hadn't prevailed…"

"Indeed…" He sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. "I wonder what would've happened had Colonel not convinced Cornelia about his theory of what happened, would I be like Kewell… Slowly descending into madness…?" Jeremiah wondered as he remembered how after the 'leaf incident' Kewell had gone into a mad rage, frothing at the mouth about ripping every single Reploid apart in response to that humiliation.

"Kewell… He didn't deserve what's happening to him…" Viletta sighed as she looked at her drink. "Or maybe we all do and he's just the one being punished right now…"

Jeremiah remained quiet as he took another sip. "About that student you mentioned before…"

Viletta glanced at him. "Yes, what about him?"

"I think I might have a way to help us locate him and fully clear our names."

* * *

 **September 6, 2017 ATB.**

 **Yokohama Port Warehouse Sector. Yokohama Port Concession, Area 11.**

"What the hell is Zero thinking… After all this talk of bringing down Britannia, and that raid on Haneda Airport… He's got us helping the police!" Tamaki groused as he kept an eye out for the signal from Zero with Yoshida as C2 in her guise as Q2 glanced down from her sniper post on the warehouse above the core group, getting significant mileage out of the Search Man data in recent days.

"Still, feels good to have the will of the people on our side." Ohgi noted.

"Yeah, he's right. We're totally heroes on the net." Sugiyama added. "Even to a lot of the Britannians as well."

Tamaki clicked his tongue and looked back down the row of warehouses.

"Are we in the right? I don't even know anymore…" Kallen mumbled as she remained atop her Burai's cockpit pod in a Black Knight's service uniform, sans armor unlike the rest, her feet dangling past the emergency dorsal pilot hatch.

Ohgi glanced at her. "Kallen…"

A green light flickered from the far end of the row. C2 flickering a blue light back. ["Zero's in position."] She reported over their short range comms. ["A group under Ohgi will move in to terminate the Refrain operation, B group under Izumi is to keep watch for any incoming complications."] She ordered.

["Roger, B group taking positions."] Izumi responded.

"This is Ohgi, A group is moving in."

"I can't believe he got in there." Sugiyama stated as the Black Knights moved up, readying their weapons as Kallen slipped inside her Burai and powered it back on.

"How many tricks does this guy have up his sleeve anyway?" Tamaki questioned as they trooped down the road.

* * *

Inside the warehouse, the Triad workers continued their business as usual.

"Is the shipment they brought in from Nagaya station ready?" One of them asked.

"Nice and safe here in the Settlement right?" Another joked to a colleague as they packed cases of Refrain.

* * *

Outside, C2 smirked as she locked onto the door.

[="Q2, bring the door down for us."=] Zero requested.

"With pleasure." She purred as she fired a shrapnel round at the door, followed by a breaching shot.

* * *

A fusillade of shrapnel tore into the warehouse, workers and Triad members scattering in a panic as many were cut down by the high velocity fragments and then a hail of gunfire as the Black Knights moved in after the door crashed to the ground.

"KNOCK KNOCK! THE BLACK KNIGHTS ARE HERE!" Tamaki shouted as he led the group in as point man.

"Intruders! Kill them!" One of the Triad guards shouted as he and four others returned fire, only to lose any semblance of bravery they had when Kallen's Red Burai rolled in.

"A Knightmare!? Screw this I'm not getting paid enough!" One of them shouted as the guards ditched their guns and ran away, Kallen spraying fire from the Burai's torso mounted HMG at them to keep them running.

* * *

"Each Knightmare is like an entire infantry company unto itself… And with half the basic logistics requirements of a tank to boot." Kallen murmured as she smashed through another door. Stopping as she turned night vision on and activated the factsphere.

"What in the…" She whispered as she spotted dozens of Japanese ambling about, sitting, laying down, or leaning on various objects. Including the hot dog stand guy, Hirota according to that Maverick Hunter, from earlier. Every single one of them mumbling incoherently about happy memories of imaginative thoughts. "What is all this… Is this what Refrain does to people…?" She gasped.

She remembered Milly's words from earlier that day as well. _"Some things in life we can bear on our own. But when you add 'em all up, they can eventually break you."_

Kallen's face hardened. "That's right… Which is why I'm here…"

["Careful, it's dangerous to run like that."] A familiar voice warned warmly, Kallen's mouth dropping open in shock.

" _It can't be…"_

Sure enough, she tracked the Burai's head down to spot Maki Kozuki walking across the floor of the warehouse directly in front of her. "Mother!?"

Her mother tripped, Kallen reacting on instinct and catching her with the right hand of the Burai, the machine echoing what would've been Kallen's physical movements without the frame.

["Zero this is Q2, I've engaged two Maverick Hunters! They've transervered in behind me! Gah! It's X and Zero again!"] Q2's voiced echoed over the radio, the sounds of energy weapons fire broadcasting over her channel.

[="Roger that Q2, lure them away from our AO and lose them. B group stay in position and keep watch."=] Zero ordered.

["Copy that."] Izumi replied.

Kallen ignored the chatter and placed her mother in a sitting position, cupped by the Burai's left hand as she raised Maki up to cockpit level.

["Really Naoto, please! I need you to keep an eye on your little sister!"] Her Mother asked as she sat up, completely oblivious to the fact she was being carried by a _Knightmare_.

"My god how _weak_ are you mother…? First you give into Britannia, then into a man who's scorned you, and now _this_ …? My brother is gone forever… Let him go!" She demanded as gunfire smashed into the right arm of the Burai, shredding it.

"What the?!"

* * *

["The Knightpolice?!"] Kallen shouted in bewilderment, noting that the unit hadn't announced its presence before opening fire as was protocol, nor had it arrived with sirens or lights on.

Kallen's Burai shot forwards as it reloaded before opening fire upon her again and then giving chase.

"Isn't that a Police unit…?" Minami asked as Ohgi whirled to face Tamaki.

"Tamaki!"

"Don't look at me! When I checked it out there weren't any cops involved! Izumi hasn't reported anything either!"

Zero's head tilted downwards. ="An off the books 'guard' then… _Corrupted_ _**filth**_!"= He spat venomously.

"No wonder the Maverick Hunters showed up! Those dirty cops probably spotted us moving in and said we're stealing from the warehouse!" Inoue growled.

* * *

Kallen rounded a shelf and turned the Burai's torso, spewing rounds from the HMG as the rifle remained stowed on the waist.

The Knightpolice Glasgow returned fire, dinging the Burai multiple times and blowing off the torso mounted HMG.

Glancing down at the remaining arm of her Burai, Kallen grimaced as she watched the motionless form of her mother slump over the hand, hair and skirt flapping in the rush of air. "You're in the way!" She growled, trying to toss the dead weight without seriously injuring her.

Kallen winced as she stared at her mother, who'd rolled in the Burai's hand. "I don't need you!" She cried out as she raised the Burai's arm into the air. "I DON'T WANT YOU!" She shouted as the Knightpolice unit blew out the Burai's pelvic joint, the red painted machine crashing to the ground as C2 dropped into the building nearby, having evaded X and Zero for the moment and watching Maki roll to a stop just past the Burai's hand.

C2 froze up, wondering what to do as the Knightpolice unit pulled out its knife, on the one hand she had no idea what was going on, on the other Kallen's life was in danger.

And yet... _Something_ told her this was a battle Kallen needed to fight for herself.

* * *

["Go on… Run!"] Kallen croaked as her mother turned and stood up. ["GET MOVING YOU IDIOT!"]

"I'm here for you… I'm here for you Kallen… As I always have been…" Maki said, recognizing her daughter's voice at last.

Realization set in on Kallen, why her mother stayed despite all the harassment. [Then that… That's why you stayed… You stayed there for _me_ …?"] She croaked as the Police Knightmare's pilot finally made up their mind and decided to plunge the blade into her cockpit block. ["YOU FOOL!"]

Kallen grunted as the Glasgow pinned her Burai down and readied its combat knife, the Burai kicking its arm away as Maki backed off, finally managing to recognize the shapes of Knightmares clashing in front of her as the Refrain began to wear off while the Burai's remaining arm struggled against the Glasgow.

["Or maybe… _I'm_ the fool…"] She whispered before firing the slash harkens into an empty shelf slot and retracting the wires, dragging the Knightpolice unit to its demise as she crushed its cockpit against the shelf above.

The Reploid watched the Black Knghts rush over to aid Kallen.

"I'm so happy for you… You can become a Britannian now Kallen… Nobody will hurt you now darling, and you're free to travel and use the phone any time you want!" Maki mumbled as Lelouch, in his guise as Zero, watched from afar.

C2 walked over to the Zero, frowning.

="So this, is her mother… Your suspicions sadly proved correct…"= He informed the Reploid.

"Indeed… A shame Kallen killed that cop, we could've used them to rat out more operations with your Geass." She whispered to him.

="Unfortunate…"= Zero turned his head towards C2. ="Why did you not fire at the Knightpolice unit?"=

C2 sighed. "Because I had a feeling that told me it was something Kallen needed to win against for herself."

Zero simply nodded in return, agreeing with her gut sentiment.

* * *

From the rafters above, N.N. watched them from the shadows.

"False tears and false smiles… One brings pain to others, and one brings pain to oneself…" She murmured as she glanced at a figure that was standing next to her, before looking back over as Kallen rushed over to her mother.

* * *

 **September 7, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence/Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

C2 stretched as she walked down the hallway to the meeting room for the student council, her blade antenna 'ears' flapping up and down briefly as she yawned, mimicking human behavior unconsciously.

"Mmrrgh… UEFI updates are a pain…" She mumbled as she opened the door to the meeting room, she and Milly had consoled Kallen yesterday after her mother had been arrested with numerous other Elevens for abusing refrain due to the Empire's zero-tolerance policy, although there was talk that Sub-Viceroy Euphemia was considering issuing a pardon to at least some of the abusers.

Where Cornelia stood on this subject was as of yet unknown.

"You're good at this Kallen!" Suzaku stated as C2 blinked

"And you're right at home in a sailor suit!" A rather gruffer sounding Kallen replied to him.

"Thanks! I wore one for talent night in the _army_!" Suzaku replied without hesitation, much to Kallen's internalized concern.

"What."

Everyone turned to stare at C2, who'd just opened the door, even Nunnally who was wearing Lelouch's clothes.

"Wha…" She blinked as she focused Rivalz wearing _massive_ fake breasts and a maid outfit, Sayako with a moustache, and… Lelouch in a frilly dress wearing hair extensions.

"Did I wake up in an alternate timeline where Suzaku and Lelouch admit they're traps and Rivalz becomes a Drag Queen?" She asked, bewildered while the boys sputtered in response.

Milly burst into laughter, breaking character for the moment as Lelouch screamed internally. "No silly! It's the second annual crossdressing festival! I had you buy Lelouch those hair extensions remember!"

C2 blinked in realization. "Ooh… Ooooooooh…"

"Does miss C2 have a costume?" Nunnally asked, breaking character as well.

Milly walked over and pulled out a costume that greatly resembled the Maverick Hunter Zero's armor.

"No! No! No! I refuse!" C2 shouted while flailing her arms only to have Sayoko pin them.

"You called Luluko and Suzu-chan traps! So you're going to be a Kawaii Baka Bishie!" Milly said rather menacingly as the group, sans Nunnally and Milly, closed in on C2, who tried to break free of the ninja-Maid's grip but found that she couldn't.

"What about me!?" Rivalz cried out, stopping briefly.

"I mean you do _look_ like one in that getup." Milly noted as she glanced at Rivalz while the others continued towards the struggling Reploid.

C2 screamed in absolute horror as the mob fell upon her.

She could just _hear_ N.N. laughing her ass off.

 _"Damn her,_ damn her _for not being part of this!"_

* * *

 **September 7, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds.**

Zero glanced over at Ashford as he and X waited for dispatch to give them their next assignment after hearing a scream. "Hey X… What do you think that was…?" He asked.

"Probably someone who's being forced to participate in that crossdressing festival." X replied as Zero gave him a funny look. "Don't look at me like that, they broadcast this stuff on the school website beforehand."

"Why are you looking at the school's website…?"

X's face flushed. "No reason…"

Zero's face turned rather cat-like. "It's that Reploid girl you met in Tokyo isn't it." He realized. "You've fallen heads over gyros for her without realizing it."

X glared at Zero. "We're just acquaintances!"

"But is that all you want to be with her?" The Red Reploid taunted goodnaturedly as C2 rushed out of the student council building, being chased by Shirley, Kallen, Nina, and Milly with Lelouch and Suzaku in tow.

"Hey is that Kururugi… In a... Serafuku…?" X asked, changing the subject.

"Oh I know a couple Reploids in the Britannian Army who barrack in the same building as him, they're going to love this!" Zero smirked as he pulled out his phone and began to record as they drew closer.

X sighed in exasperation. "What happened to being all business?"

"We can have a _little_ fun while on duty X, besides we're technically on what someone would call a 'donut break', so it doesn't matter." Zero replied, waving off his concern.

"You're having _too much_ fun with this though." X mumbled as the student council chased C2 to the sidewalk where he and Zero were waiting.

C2 turned her head slowly and spotted X and Zero, mortified.

"I uhm err…" She choked as her roleplaying ability failed her upon seeing X and Zero sitting there on their ride chasers.

"No please, don't mind us!" Zero chuckled as X sighed again.

Hey! Luluko come back!" Shirley shouted, still in her police officer persona, or about as well as she could do it anyways, after Lelouch saw the Maverick Hunters and _then_ Zero's phone camera and _sprinted_ in the opposite direction.

It was as much as to avoid being identified as it was mortification about being recorded like _this_.

Everyone else tailed after him except C2, whom sighed and glanced at X.

"Nice costume! I totally approve!" Zero said and gave her a thumbs up as X cocked his head at her, confused.

C2's eyes dimmed and the Reploid crashed to the ground as she vented excess heat again.

X and Zero both leapt off their ride chasers and checked her over. "Overheated, jeez how flustered was she…" Zero mumbled as X helped her up, C2 slowly rebooting as she cooled down.

C2 groaned as her eyes lit up again. "What happened…"

"Overheated and passed out." X informed her as she turned her head and looked at him, her face flushed red.

"R… Right." She replied, flustered still as she dusted off the costume. "I should probably get back to uh er yeah." C2 jabbered before rushing off. "I'll talk to you later X!" She shouted as she rushed off.

"That was odd…" Zero murmured as he glanced at X and then elbowed his partner as he leaned against his motorcycle, smirking. "Admit it, you were staring at her ass." He joked.

X sputtered. "ZERO!"

The Maverick Hunter laughed even harder when everyone nearby stopped, expecting the leader of the Black Knights, only to see the Maverick Hunter of the same name standing there. "Oh my god you totally were! And here I was just screwing with you!" He laughed and slapped the side of his Ride Chaser, X flushing red as he went off to find C2, if only to get away from his partner's jabs.

"Oh come on X! Turnabout is fair play!"

* * *

It was a short time later after C2 had hit out in the gardens, embarrassed to high heaven as she sat there, the cosplay helmet in her hands.

She heard metal footfalls and then someone sat down next to her.

"So, about earlier..." X began as she turned to look at him, her eyes wide again.

"Easy there... Not gonna judge you, Zero already had a laugh at _my_ expense." He said. "He's usually not like that but he's been having a fun time messing with me like the rest of the Hunters after my previous Ride Chaser got jacked."

C2 tried to avoid wincing at that statement, as it was her fault that had occurred given that she was the one who'd stolen the vehicle. "What did he laugh about...?"

"I er..." X looked away, embarrassed. "That costume... Really... Er... It..."

"Uh... What're you talking about..."

"How do I put this... I was... Staring at... Your..."

She slugged him in the face and looked away, flustered. "Perv..."

"Yeah, save that for _everyone else_ in this school, why does Ashford have a damn _Fantasy Seduction club_?" He mumbled as C2 shrugged, checking his face and finding none. "Besides... You are... Er..."

"I'm what?" She turned to look at him, eyes narrowed.

"You're cute." He blurted out, as both looked away from eachother, mutually blushing again.

"I see..." She finally said before glancing over at X again. "Er... Do you wanna go do anything...? When you're off duty of course"

"Well my duty shift ends in about thirty minutes provided nothing comes up. So like what...?"

"Well I can take this off and ditch the festival... Not really fond of crossdressing. That and I have a brief window to escape before Milly sics Sayoko on me while they're all chasing down Lelouch." She admitted.

X nodded at her and looked away as she began to take off the cosmetic armor, smoothing out the white bodysuit underneath that covered her dermal plating.

"You didn't have to look away, It was just a costume over my external coverings..."

"Yeah, but it's the principle of the thing to not look at someone when they're undressing." He said as he stood up and offered his hand out to her with a smile. "So... About that movie I promised you..."

"So what movie are we seeing later?" She inquired.

"Well I've had my eye on one for a while. It's an alternate history film based on a book someone wrote. Kubrick directed it." He told her.

"What's the title?" She inquired as they began to walk off the campus together.

"Dr. Strangelove."

* * *

 **AN: I had a review ask about how well integrated X and Zero (the Maverick Hunter, _not_ Lelouch) are with the story, which helped me realize that I need to tie them in a bit closer. Which'll be happening in the coming chapters anyways.**

 **That and the Stage 9.33 Audio Drama was somewhat perfect material to adapt to better integrate them.**

 **As for the Black Knights uniform, the combat uniform is different from the service uniform, the latter of which is the outfit commonly seen in the show.**

 **The fact that even after they have UFN backing the Black Knights don't use any form of body armor is… Absurd to say the least, not even basic combat helmets are used at that point, like they're still a bunch of rag tag rebels playing vigilante rather than a coherent army.**

 **And don't even get me started on how** _ **idiotic**_ **wearing a goddamn miniskirt into combat is since even Code MENT took a jab at that. Literally nobody military outside the Britannia, Europan and Chinese _infantry_ or gunship pilots wear any form of pragmatic uniform in CG, and no it's not because of aesthic, everyone of at least officer rank who isn't part of the JLF wears either dress uniforms 24/7 or outfits that can't even be described as acceptable in any self-respecting military, especially if they're women who aren't originally part of the Black Knights and their name isn't Cornelia li Britannia or Nagisa Chiba.**

 **The Chinese do wear decent dress uniforms, but sadly they're so effing archaic they look ridiculous in a modern context as they're based on feudal era uniforms, and unlike the adapted neo-feudal design of the Chinese infantry uniform it still looks out of place.**

 **Anyways. Having good equipment also does wonders for morale, even with Lelouch's capable leadership, avoidable casualties will start taking their toll on it.**

 **As for why X and C2 are talking like awkward teenagers, it's because they are technically in the weird indescribable phase between being a Teenager and an Adult mentally.**

 **Yeah sure X has been awake for a while, but emotionally he's still kinda naive and childish due to him not joining the hunters until a year or so prior to the start of the main events of the 'series', which is part of the reason he's only B-rank despite his inherent power and abilities.**

 **Also _romance_ is not one of those things that he learned, and C2 has next to no idea how to be anything other than an awkward idiot about it.**

 **But they'll grow out of it soon enough.**

 **Zero is a bit more mature than them both but he has his moments... Or will until the inevitable happens.**

 **Being _either_ Zero is suffering.**

 **Also I did put in a slight reference to Rai there as a subtle in joke to CG's contradictory and oft confusing timeline, I had initially planned for him to appear but after talking with Sobran (who's been a longstanding help by pointing out areas where I rush too much or go a little over the top) I cut him out as I had literally no use for him besides being a hanger-on for Suzaku.**

 **That said, might have a better use for him later on (as in during the Interlude or the R2/X2 arc, likely afterwards if I go there.) but it depends on how the story develops as to whether or not this idea gets used.**

 **As for the whole hive city thing C2 was thinking about. Insofar the Area 11 settlements and other places such as the main districts of Pendragon describe that trope at least decently well, they're massive interconnected structures unlike traditional mega cities, although they do have mega cities sprouting out from around them as well as _suburbs_.**

 **Let that sink in for a moment and you'll realize exactly how freaking huge these structures are as they dwarf the surrounding skyscrapers.**

 **And then remember that Britannia built the goddamn monstrosities in Area 11 in only _seven_ years or less, in our timeline it took _five_ years to build our biggest buildings** **it takes 4-5 years per super skyscraper at best.**

 **Meanwhile Britannia has built plenty of structures that in turn make the Burj Khalifa look like a hotel for ants given that the Imperial Palace at Pendragon is so effing massive it ascends into the cloud layer over the city, or the towers around the Tokyo settlement that do the same.**

 **CG architecture and structural engineering is freaky advanced because of Sakuradite and the resulting materials boom due to the usage of computers decades ahead of their IRL counterparts. Whatever they make the settlements out of is assuredly metal, concrete and composites far stronger than anything humanity currently has on hand in OTL.**

 **Again, I will reiterate that CG is AU 1960's, damn the retcons those are _not_ contemporary automobile designs unless Britannia went full Fallout culturally and kept designing 60's aesthetic vehicles.**

 **On one last note, when I mention the interlude or R2/X2, those _will_ be separate stories on site, for the love of me I can't justify cramming a hundred chapters into a single story and because the interlude will be heavily C2-centric compared to the more multi-character focus of this arc and for the R2/X2 arc it makes sense to split them up.**


	12. Stage 12: The Battle of Narita begins

**AN: It begins.**

 **Just to be clear, the area dubbed 'Narita' in CG isn't actually Narita.**

 **So the logical explanation is that the Britannians fucked up the maps in the first year of the occupation and by the time anyone noticed, nobody gave a damn anymore and just added a 2 to the name of the town a-la Tokyo-3.**

 **It makes more sense than any other alternative.**

* * *

 **September 7, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Swimming Pool, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

Lelouch checked through a list of potential recruits on his laptop as he heard N.N. dive into the water nearby. Scrolling past Saburo Okawachi's profile he found himself on that of Diethard Ried after switching to the next page. "Hmm? A Britannian? Looks too confident to be a spy, an extremist or…?"

"Isn't it just wonderful how the number of recruits just keeps growing? Even a number of Britannians and Reploids are beginning to apply to join." N.N. noted as she floated past, a smirk on her face as usual.

He reclined in his seat. "And it was simpler than I could've imagined. While I bitterly hate the Britannian government and its policies, I likewise don't condone terrorism, these are the prevailing views of most Elevens. Naturally this means that certain prospective allies such as Peace Mark immediately retracted their hands of aid, as my means and their means conflict on principle."

"But in turn basically that means most Elevens support the Black Knights to some degree." C2 noted as metallic footfalls on the tile announced her arrival.

"Which in turn makes it easier for us to operate as a whole. It's a huge help that people don't report our activities to the Britannians. Plus I hear that Kyoto, the group that's rumored to be supporting the JLF and the other primary insurgent groups, is interested in sending us new equipment. The number of informants has also risen dramatically as well." Lelouch acknowledged

C2 stopped next to Lelouch and glanced over at N.N. as she floated by. "The Japanese just can't help jumping on the bandwagon when they hear a well-grounded buzzword." He stated with a smirk on his face.

"Hence the Knights for Justice act." C2 noted as N.N. climbed out of the water, the Reploid tossing the immortal a towel.

"Yeah well, everybody loves a hero, and what better hero than a knight?" He asked as C2 snorted.

N.N. shrugged and giggled as she dried herself off. "I sincerely doubt that's what a real knight for justice would say, especially the chivalrous hero-knights of legends."

"You don't think so?" Lelouch asked.

"Well, it would depend on how arrogant they are."

Lelouch simply kept smirking in response.

* * *

 **September 7, 2017 ATB.**

 **Hi-TV offices, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Diethard sighed as he turned to face Jeremiah and Viletta. "Yes I was demoted from my position as well, despite the fact that Zero would likely have overrode any broadcast commands after hijacking our equipment. Much in the same way that what happened to you wasn't your fault."

Jeremiah clicked his tongue but showed no other sign of responding.

"Trust me when I say we have no intention of letting ourselves go quietly into the night." Viletta replied darkly as she leaned over Diethard's desk. "And we have the sneaking suspicion that _you_ don't either."

"Well, who can say?" Diethard replied with a smirk.

Jeremiah turned to him confidently. "We have a lead that may help us find Zero." He stated, dangling the bait in front of Diethard.

Viletta suppressed a smirk upon seeing that they had the media man's full and undivided attention.

"Have you heard of Ashford Private Academy? I want to investigate a male student there that I suspect of being linked to Zero."

"And why can't you do this yourselves? Surely you would be able to given the broad discretionary powers given to the military?" Diethard inquired as he folded his hands in front of him in an ambassador's pose.

"Viletta and I are going to be elsewhere on deployment over the course of the next week, which is why we're asking you to handle this." Jeremiah stated, keeping his mouth shut about Narita.

"Hmm to the Narita range I take it?" The Newsman asked slyly as he tapped away at his desktop. "Going to finish the Japan Liberation Front once and for all I presume, given that their HQ is rumored to be in the mountains near Narita-2."

The two pureblood members glanced at eachother. "How did you come across this information?"

"You'd be surprised by what random NCOs start spouting off when they drink themselves into a stupor while barhopping on liberty." He replied smarmily.

Jeremiah glanced at him. "You're too clever for your own good, that could get you killed one day."

Diethard chuckled. "You overestimate me, it _was_ actual coincidence that I found out about this information."

* * *

 **September 8, 2017 ATB.**

 **Warehouse District, Yokohama Port Concession, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

It was the early hours of the eighth when two hundred or so new recruits of the Black Knights entered the warehouse Zero had requested them to meet in, each one standing in formation as C2 inspected them, the Reploid glancing about, checking their service uniforms for blemishes or bugs.

"Alright, Companies, fall in." She ordered after deeming them satisfactory, leading them into a much larger warehouse, where a set of spotlights blared to life, revealing Panzer-Hummels and Burais standing about alongside several armored vehicles and lighter ground transports.

"Wow this is amazing!" One of them chattered.

"These are Glasgows right?" Another asked.

"Burais, a Japanese modification boasting improved systems and armor. Not quite on par with a Sutherland but they close the gap well enough." An ex-JLF soldier explained to the awed recruits.

One of the recruits stopped in front of a line of Burais each with specialized equipment, spiked arm shields, drills, gatling cannons, massive gripping claws, sattel waffen type missile launchers mounted on the cockpit modules, and even a pair of artillery cannons mounted over the shoulders of a couple units.

"These must be the special modified types!" Someone exclaimed as the core veteran Black Knights stared at a much different unit nearby.

The Guren Mark-II.

"Those guys from Kyoto… They believe in us!" Sugiyama breathed as he stared at the machine and its gleaming red and orange paint job, the brilliant silver of the wave surger arm contrasting with the bright colors.

"They sent us this… The first Knightmare design built specially for Japan…"

"Third actually." Minami corrected. "The Guren Mark One and the Burai Kai precede this type."

"Still..."

"The Guren Mark Two…" A somewhat oblivious Kallen whispered as she stared at the Knightmare as C2 stomped over and glanced at it rather pensively, even inactive it held an aura about it, one of raw destructive power.

"Heh, I'm really lovin' this." Tamaki chuckled as the others began to chat amongst themselves about its specs. "The big-shots in Kyoto are recognizing us! We've got their approval!"

"Tamaki-san! Will you show me how to use this equipment please!" A female recruit shouted from near one of the Burais, using an honorific freely in the settlement area for what was likely the first time in years.

"Sure! I'll be right there!" He shouted back as he rushed over, the others following, leaving Kallen and C2 staring at the Guren.

"Newbies, what are you gonna do?" Inoue joked as they walked away.

Kallen and C2 glanced over at Zero after hearing his approaching footsteps.

="First Tamaki and now Inoue and the rest are treating this like a party."= He observed as he emerged from the shadows.

="Kyoto is backing multiple resistance groups correct?"= He asked her, placing a hand on his hip.

Kallen turned to face him with a smile on her face. "Yes, which means that we've finally made it in, they know that we're worthy of their support."

="No, you're wrong there Kallen. This is merely a test that they've put to us, to see if we're worth expending the resources on."=

"So what if it is? This is still incredible! No more of just refurbished JLF Burais and second-hand Panzer-Hummels!"

="You are an optimist, I envy that."= He said and tossed her the Guren's activation key as C2 handed him a list of supply costs. ="Nevertheless I'm keeping our supply chains open and am negotiating for Soviet, European and Chinese made equipment on the Black Market, notably I won a rather tight auction for a number of export-type Kalinka units that had been purchased by Peace Mark before they reneged on payment."= He informed her.

Kallen nodded and then looked at the activation key. "I see… Anyways what's this?" She inquired.

="The Guren Mark Two is yours now Kallen. Use its power wisely."=

"Mine?! But we have a lot more people now and we can't afford to lose you! We need the Guren's defenses to protect you!" She replied rather hurriedly.

="You're a top notch pilot, I'm a commander who's only average in a Knightmare. Therefore I'll use a Burai, as I lack the skills and reflexes needed to make the best use of the Guren in combat, while Q2 is physically incapable of utilizing it due to Sakuradite's tendency to interfere with unshielded Reploid systems. This leaves you as our only possible Knightmare ace to play during a battle. Besides… You have a reason to fight."= He informed her.

Kallen gasped and then looked down at the key, remembering the fact her mother was currently recovering in a Britannian prison ward thanks to her abuse of Refrain, a criminal act for _anyone_ in Britannia much to the chagrin of the progressives from what she'd seen, heard, and read in the news.

"Right…" She replied.

"Zero. You got a second?" Ohgi asked as he walked over, Zero handing the data he'd been looking at back to C2. "We got some weird intel from a Britannian who wants to join up with the Black Knights." Ohgi stated as he held up a folder.

Lelouch blinked behind his mask. _"Is this the work of Diethard Reid…?"_ He wondered as Ohgi handed him the files.

"This might be a trap to draw us out. I'd say even if we wanted to confirm the operation that it's too risky to contact him directly. But news like this isn't something we should just ignore, what should we do?" He asked as Zero read though the info before snapping the folder shut.

="This weekend we're going hiking."= He stated simply.

Ohgi was taken aback by that. "What?"

="Q2, I want you to head out to the Narita Mountains ahead of us and do a geological survey of the summit of the largest mountain."= He ordered.

"Roger." C2 stated as she turned and marched out.

"Geological survey…? What's going on?"

="We're deploying all present and active forces barring our reserves under Kusukabe to the Narita mountains."= Zero replied plainly. ="Marshal the troops, prepare alibis and move out at 0800 hours on Friday."= He ordered.

"Understood… Is there anything we need in specific?"

="Once Q2 reports in I'll create a 'shopping list' for our equipment needs. Be sure to bring plenty of tents and sleeping bags with the supplies as well."=

"Right. What should I tell the others…?" Ohgi asked.

="Tell them we're going on maneuvers in the area to coordinate our forces with Kusukabe, we can't have anyone blabbing about the intel we've gotten, loose lips sinking ships and all."=

Both Kallen and Ohgi nodded in agreement.

* * *

 **September 13, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

Lelouch tapped away at his laptop as he and N.N. conversed about the upcoming mission.

"The advance troops are on their way with C2 and I've roughly determined the strength of the JLF garrison at Narita thanks to Kusukabe's intel." He told her as he leaned back.

"Someone sounds pleased with themselves." N.N. said as she rolled onto her side and gave him a wry smirk.

"Very, I can finally pay back Cornelia for Saitama with _interest_."

"Someone's also a sore loser." She prodded.

"Does anyone honestly _like_ to lose?" He asked while raising an eyebrow at her.

N.N. rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Goes with the bloodline I guess." She muttered.

His look changed to a glare. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

There was a knock at the door. "Lelouch? You in there?"

Both Lelouch and N.N. froze as Suzaku knocked again at the door. "Nngh… Suzaku!" He hissed softly.

"Hey, you got a minute so I can come in and talk to you about something?" Suzaku asked.

"Uuhhn! Hold on! My room is a mess!" He informed his friend as he scrambled to his feet and grabbed N.N. off the bed.

"Hey! What're you!? Stop it!" She hissed at him and began to claw at his arm as he stuffed her underneath the bed after knocking several non-incriminating research articles onto the floor.

"Come on!" He hissed back at her as he managed to get her under the bed, the immortal glaring at him furiously.

"I might as well help you clean up then!" Suzaku said as he pressed the doorswitch. "I'm coming in!" He said as the door hissed open.

Lelouch turned to see Suzaku looking down at him, the former sweating a bit from his exertions. "Oh hey Suzaku…"

"Why are you underneath the bed…?" His friend asked, a contemplative hand on his chin.

"Oh I just dropped something."

"Lelouch… Stuffing me down here is going to cost you _big time."_ N.N. whispered to him in irritation.

Although… Being seen by Suzaku was a can of worms she was admittedly not willing to deal with at the moment.

"Be silent." He whispered back as he slipped out from under the bed and stood up, fixing his friend in a glare. "Listen Suzaku I know we're friends and all but walking into my room like this is rude, this isn't the military where an NCO will burst into your quarters at any given moment for an inspection."

"I knocked…" Suzaku replied, not getting Lelouch's point.

"You're supposed to _wait_ until I say _come in_. Why don't you _think_ before you do things? For the love of god just use your _head_ for _once_. You've always been like that, barging into places whenever you feel like."

Suzaku smirked. "Oh have I?" He replied rather smarmily.

"Yes, if you would respect people's privacy for on-"

"Lelouch, you're just too _secretive_. Even back at the estate you had your pork buns, bean crepes, and that stuffed weasel toy." He noted.

" _Stuffed Weasel toy? I've gotta tell C2 about that."_ N.N. thought, a smirk growing on her face.

Lelouch brought a hand up to stop Suzaku from going on. "Hold on! You remember all _that_ but forget everything _else_?" He questioned.

"What? Whaddya mean? I don't forget _everything_!" Suzaku stated, putting his hands on his hips.

"You _do_ , like that time we wanted to send messages nobody else would understand so I came up with that great secret code!" Lelouch replied, crossing his arms.

Suzaku gestured off to the side. "Which was impossible to lean, there were like _five hundred_ different hand signals, even Todoh couldn't make heads or tails of it and he's _trained_ in non-verbal communication!"

" _I_ remembered them." Lelouch muttered indignantly.

Suzaku chuckled "That's because your memory retention is as freakish to _me_ as my athletic abilities are to _you_. And in the end you changed it to a simpler code, didn't you?"

Lelouch sighed in exasperation and put a hand to his forehead. "That's because _you_ couldn't read the messages."

"Well _thank_ _you_ Lelouch for all that _extra effort_." Suzaku chirped sarcastically as he threw his arms up into the air.

"Dork… Don't just say thank you like that…" He looked back up. "You know… You've changed since then…"

"Have I?"

Lelouch nodded. "You have, everything used to be _me, me, me_. You were completely self-centered."

"You've also changed… Now you're a bit more _rough_. And now you're seventeen. So of course…" Suzaku chuckled, placing his hands on his hips.

"Of course what?" Lelouch asked, genuinely confused.

"You've got a girlfriend now don't you?" Suzaku noted, walking over to the bed and plucking one of N.N.'s blond hairs off it. "See, there's a long hair over here. It's not Nunnally's or C2's is it?"

N.N. gasped lightly underneath the bed. _"Thank_ god _he's not as paranoid as Lelouch…"_

"What?! Don't be absurd that doesn't mean it's from a _girl!_ " Lelouch denied hastily.

"You don't need to hide it, we both know you're not gay." Suzaku noted as Lelouch resisted the urge to break out into sputtering. "Of course I won't tell Nunnally or Milly about this either. Besides, we're both seventeen now so things like this are perfectly natural."

" _Things like this… Like what?"_ Lelouch wondered.

"What's she like… I'm curious." Suzaku inquired as he sat down on Lelouch's desk chair.

"Huh…? Oh… How do I describe her…" Lelouch said as he tapped on his chin. "Well she's not easy to figure out…"

"So she's kinda mysterious?" Suzaku asked, raising an eyebrow, a smirk growing on his face.

"I guess you could say that…"

"Is she cute?"

"No." Lelouch said flatly. "No, she's the farthest thing from cute."

"The homemaker type…?"

"Absolutely not, she's lazy, never lifts a finger so I have to do everything for her." Lelouch stated.

Suzaku frowned and cocked his head. "You sure she's the right girl for you…?" He asked. "You don't mix very well with people you feel or know you can't count on."

Lelouch smirked and shrugged. "True. She causes endless problems for me, her clothes are a mess, she's stuck up, selfish, a constant annoyance, and she's _always_ stuffing her face with junk food."

" _Why that little bastard!"_ N.N. grit her teeth and began kicking at the bed, causing it to jerk slightly.

"Lelouch… Did the bed just move…?" Suzaku asked as Lelouch tried to think of a reasonable answer.

"Ah, uh, maybe my alarm clock went off…" He lied hastily. _"You fool! He'll never go for that!"_ He thought to himself.

"Alarm clock…?" Suzaku repeated, confused.

Of course, this was _Suzaku_ he was talking to.

"It's the new function I installed… Anyway Suzaku why'd you come over at this time of night?" He asked.

"Oh! I came to give you back your math notes!" Suzaku said as he pulled the articles out from under his jacket and handed them to Lelouch. "They were a huge help, and now I'll be able to pass the exam next week!"

Lelouch took them from him. "Exams are essentially games where your opponent poses questions. If you can anticipate _how_ your opponent _thinks_. It's easy." He explained.

"Classic Lelouch." Suzaku noted, dropping the issue of the bed entirely.

"But why make a special trip, you could've given them back in class tomorrow." He noted.

"I've got a work trip starting tomorrow." Suzaku admitted sheepishly.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "As a military engineer?"

"Huh oh, right. it's trip to go inspect a factory."

"The Knightmare plant in Shizuoka?" Lelouch asked.

"Uh yeah, you're well informed… Aren't you?"

Lelouch smirked. "I read about it online." He replied.

"Lelouch… You're not involved with anything dangerous, are you?" Suzaku asked candidly.

"Of course not, the last thing I want is to make Nunnally cry." Lelouch half-lied to him.

Suzaku stood up and rubbed the back of his head. "Right… Yes. Of course. Sorry I didn't mean anything. Well, time to go… Gotta get up early." He noted as he headed towards the door, giving Lelouch a wave as he walked out.

"Right, see ya." Lelouch replied, giving him a wave back as the door shut and he relaxed.

N.N. poked her head out from under the bed, blond hair splayed out all over the floor. " _That_ was a first." She noted as she pulled herself out from underneath the bed. "I've never heard our relationship described quite like that."

"Lying is an art form, to succeed the lie must have some truth woven into the fabric of deception."

She smirked at him as she stood up. "Oh and here I thought you were confessing your _true_ feelings for me?"

"Don't be absurd, me with a bizarre girl like you? Not possible." He stated flatly. "Are you mad at me now?" He inquired as he glanced over at her.

She cocked her head. "Should I be? Anyways you're lucky your friend isn't getting stationed over at Narita."

"Suzaku's not a combat engineer, there's no way he'd be sent to the front lines." He replied as he sat down on his chair and got back to work. "Besides, Cornelia won't willingly use numbers in battle as a matter of pride."

"You know, you're always so fond of saying that the only ones who _should_ kill, are those that are prepared to _be_ killed." She stated as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes."

She turned on her heel to look at the door. "Then let me ask you this… Are you prepared to kill, not just order someone to kill, but to personally take the life of someone who has done _nothing_ wrong but stood in your way without even realizing it, even someone very important to you?" She questioned, Lelouch stiffening in response.

"Or are you merely willing to die like a noble martyr, but are not yet willing to fully walk the path of blood?" N.N. inquired as she turned to face him.

"I am." Lelouch replied confidently.

N.N. raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

" **Enough**!" He snapped, slamming his fist down on his desk. " _Anyone_ who stands in my way, no matter _who_ it is, when the time comes… I'll do it."

N.N. smirked. _"But will you hold that resolve? It's so_ easy _to just say something but when it comes down to it,_ actions _will matter more than empty words."_ She thought darkly as she laid down on the bed.

* * *

 **September 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence.**

Nunnally sat up in her bed as Sayoko walked over with her clothes for the day. "Sayoko, we won't need any breakfast for my brother this morning."

"He's going out?" The Maid inquired.

"He'll be leaving on a three-day trip starting today and he's bringing C2 with him." Nunnally replied warmly.

Sayoko smiled, like Nunnally she was still in the dark about his 'activities'. "Oh I see, he's being going out quite a bit recently, you think it's a girlfriend?" She asked as she walked off, Lelouch having clarified that N.N. was only a friend of his quite some time ago.

Nunnally hummed softly. "Huh… Maybe it is…" She whispered to herself.

Nunnally honestly didn't know how she actually felt about that, one the one side she wanted her big brother to be happy...

On the other, she honestly didn't know how she'd continue on without Lelouch being there for her.

The girl frowned pensively. _"How troubling..."_ She thought.

* * *

 **September 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Narita Range, Honshu, Area 11.**

"This is sector five, nothing to report." A JLF soldier radioed to HQ from the isolated guard station he and his watch-buddy were posted at.

["Copy that sector five. Continue to maintain watch until next shift arrives."] The operator he was talking to replied.

"Right, the next scheduled report will be in two hours." The guard acknowledged as before hanging up the landline and walking back over to the table where his partner was sitting with a Go board and sat down.

"Of _course_ there's nothing to report, this place _belongs_ to the Japan Liberation Front, nobody can just _stroll_ in." The other man said as the latch of one of the two doors of the building clicked and it began to open. "Huh?" He mumbled as both soldiers turned to face the door.

Standing there in the doorway was the intimidating figure of Zero, a modified Burai kneeling over outside.

" _How?! We should've heard something!?"_ The second man thought as he picked up his carbine and flicked the safety of.

"Zero!" His partner shouted as they scrambled to their feet, only to stop when they watched him reach up to the sides of his head.

="Relax."= Zero said placatingly as he removed his trademark mask, leaving both men stunned by the young _Britannian_ face underneath. "I only came here to talk." Lelouch said as he called upon his Geass. "Therefore, I want you to ignore any unusual activity during your watch." He ordered, both men relaxing as they fell into its trance.

"Sure, no problem." One of the soldiers said as he and his partner picked up the chairs and placed the carbine back into the rack it had been resting in beforehand.

"Come on! It's your turn!" The other man jabbed as they picked up the chairs and returned to their game of Go.

"What's the rush? We're just on regular duty you know?"

Lelouch remained impassive as he watched them play before turning and nodding at C2, who'd marched over from where she'd been standing near the Zero-custom Burai. "I need you to head down to the city at the foot of the mountain in your civilian form… What was it called again?" He asked, racking his brain for the name.

"If you're talking about the town, I have no idea, the name was literally wiped off the map during early years of the occupation due to bureaucratic incompetence, everyone just calls it Narita-2 as some kind of in-joke that eventually became the official name apparently." She replied.

He sighed and nodded. "Signal the others then head down as I previously ordered you to."

"Roger." C2 replied before shifting into the 'Bright Man' data set and checking her buster. "By the way, try not to intervene in their game, I know it's tempting."

Lelouch snorted at her derisively. "I prefer Chess to Go, besides, that game is ill suited for my current mindset anyways. Holding territory is not the preferred tactic for a guerrilla force."

She shrugged before walking outside and 'blinking' the signal in the direction of the waiting command group for the Black Knights in the hills nearby.

* * *

A Burai's factsphere closed up after detecting the flash signal. ["Signal from Zero confirmed, we're now moving to waypoint two."]

A group of trucks, Burais, Jeeps, APCs, light SPAA vehicles, and Panzer-Hummels rumbled forwards, the Guren nestled among them, while several trailers were being towed between the standard-type Burais.

["Hey, why doesn't Zero just use the radio on his Burai?"] Someone asked as the convoy rumbled up the mountain road.

["He said we're supposed to be operating under radio silence and only to use point to point comms."] Ohgi reminded them.

["What do you suppose he meant when he said hiking?"] Another Black Knight questioned.

["Military training?"]

["Only with Zero in another location."] Someone, probably Inoue, groused.

["I thought we were supposed to meet with Kusukabe's ex-JLF guys?"]

["Maybe we'll dig a hot spring? We brought the drill-type Burais and the remote excavator drills along for a reason right?"]

["If that's why we brought them then hell, I'm all for it!"]

["Kallen? You heard anything about this?"] Tamaki radioed her as she studied a textbook.

"Mmh! I haven't…"

["You Ohgi?"]

["Nope, not a word, although he did send Q2 to survey the area last week…"]

["Survey the area? What is she a walking multitool?"] Tamaki muttered.

"Zero mentioned it to me after I asked about why she was being sent. Apparently her base design was derived from that of a Geological Survey Reploid. It's why she has those drills." Kallen added as she adjusted the Guren's course with a remote.

["I guess everyone has to start from somewhere."] Ohgi noted before his countenance hardened. _"Zero isn't using the Radio to avoid being traced… Is he serious about this…?"_

* * *

C2 passed the group as she descended towards the town, reflecting on what truly made Knightmares so innovative.

The fact that the control setups of military types weren't much different from civilian models. In a way they were like heavily armed jeeps in that if you knew how to drive the civilian type, you could drive the military type with minimal (re)training compared to conventional armor like tanks or personnel carriers.

"Hmph, I guess there are always ways to surprise someone in warfare." She mused as she headed towards the town below at sprinting pace, or at least for her, in actuality she could probably keep up with some older MBTs off-road at this speed.

Her objectives were simple, monitor for any sign of Cornelia moving troops through or evacuating the town. If discovered she was to engage in combat, flanking the enemy main forces, destroying targets of opportunity and working her way towards their rear lines to hopefully capture a G-1 or destroy supply depots or artillery batteries in order to draw pressure off the Black Knights and JLF. Lelouch had made it _abundantly_ clear to everyone that most moderate Britannians were likely on the fence about the Black Knights currently, and that intentionally targeting medical units and field hospitals would surely turn both them _and_ their current supporters away.

"You're leading a resistance group, yet you uphold yourself and them to the Geneva conventions, by doing so you force Cornelia to uphold that same standard lest she incite dissent among her own ranks in addition to the civilians." C2 whispered to herself as she reached the town after another few minutes, shifting back into her civilian mode, wearing some clothes Lelouch had acquired for her and put a cap on her head before walking into town, folding her head antennas back instinctively.

Admittedly Reploids didn't particularly _need_ clothing, it was just done because they wished to feel included in human society.

The streets were eerily quiet for an urban area this size, indicating that the inhabitants had realized that something big was about to happen and either fled in advance or sought shelter. The amount of vehicles parked around indicated that many had chose the latter.

"Problematic… But not something I can't deal with." She whispered as she clambered up a fire escape on the side of an office tower, pulled out her binocs and a burner phone and settled in to wait, frowning as she spotted several groups of Maverick Hunter transport vans and patrol cars enter the town, along with three _very_ familiar Reploids on two ride chasers and a single ride armor.

"Again with them...? Is this predestined or just bad luck on my part?" She whispered.

* * *

Lelouch sighed as he read a folder of report sightings that the JLF guards had been logging in. "The day I've waited for has finally come Cornelia… Now that you've returned from Area 18…" He mused as the two guards played Go, still under the effects of his Geass.

Briefly he wondered what the conditions of his command activating were, would it only last for this shift in particular or would it last for every guard shift these two men were ever on?

He frowned pensively, C2 had raised the issue after finding out about the carving girl, noting that if his Geass never wore off then she would be compelled to return to Ashford ever single day for the _rest of her life_ to make a mark on the wall. Simple logic that he hadn't seen in his rush to test his power.

Without thinking he'd destroyed an innocent person's life, she'd never be able to hold a job or have a family due to the compulsion and would likely be committed to an asylum once she graduated from Ashford.

He sighed again. _"I should've worded things more carefully…"_ He thought as he flipped to the next page. _"The commands I set can be incredibly detrimental to someone if I don't provide precise conditions for them to activate or to carry out my orders…"_

He spotted something out of the corner of his eye and looked up, glancing over to see N.N. standing outside, gazing out over the mountain range.

" _What the…?"_

* * *

"We're certain that the Japanese Liberation Front's headquarters are in this area." Darlton reported to Cornelia as the line of G-series landships, consisting of the G-1 command ships _Prince Lelouch_ and _Princess Nunnally_ , the G-2 artillery landships _Pelham_ , _Truman_ , _Alexander_ and _Forrest_ , the G-3 AA cruisers _Rosecrans_ and _Sumter_ alongside the G-7 logistics landships _Plentiful_ , _Bountiful_ and _Prolific_ , the G-8 KMF carrier landships _Roosevelt_ and _Pershing_ and the clearly marked G-9 medical landships _Pity_ and _Charity_ all rumbled towards Narita-2 and the mountain it laid at the foot of.

Tanks, trucks, jeeps, APCs, SPAAGs, tank destroyers, Self-propelled artillery, direct fire SPGs and their ilk rumbled towards the mountain in the shadows of the titanic landships, seeming like Remoras schooling among Whale Sharks.

"We've already split four Knightmare Battalions into seven units and hidden them in the vicinity, the remainder of the two divisions we're bringing will be the followup forces." He and the other officers turned to face Cornelia while Euphie continued to gaze at the map displaying the approaching conventional forces and the remainder of the Knightmare units they were deploying.

"At this juncture we're awaiting the Viceroy's command so that we may destroy them with one fell swoop." Darlton stated.

Euphie glanced over at her sister. "Are you confident that the enemy won't appear outside the encirclement line?" She inquired.

Cornelia cocked an eyebrow. "You mean Zero?"

Darlton turned to Euphie. "Have no fear about that." He stated confidently. "As the operation begins, we'll be blocking off the main highways and mountain roads leading in and out of the combat area." The General informed her. "And even if he should _somehow_ be here beforehand, he's outnumbered and outgunned a thousand to one."

"Plus we have several battalions in reserve. Plus, if things do somehow get dicey, Colonel and Iris are in charge of artillery and air support aboard the _Princess Nunnally_. So if Zero's indeed stupid enough to show up it'll be the end of him." Cornelia noted.

Euphie nodded. While it was nice to be near Iris again after the latter had been pulled back from the Maverick Hunters once the Black Knights had been revealed, she would've preferred to be near her friend in person.

* * *

"N.N. what are you doing here?" Lelouch asked as he approached the blond-haired immortal, whom was wearing a stolen Black Knight's combat uniform no less and carrying a rifle in her arms, with his helmet under his arm.

She turned to fix him in her gaze. "I said I'd protect you remember? I'm immortal, you're not."

"Aren't you overdoing it?" He asked her, glaring at the stolen weapons, and noting that she had an M72 launcher slung over her back and was carrying an M14 outfitted for use as a designated marksman rifle.

She turned to gaze out over the mountains again. "I've been wondering something… Why are you Lelouch?"

"I don't have time to discuss philosophy with you." He snapped.

"Make some then. You changed your family's surname to your mother's maiden name, Lamperouge, yet you keep your given name." She noted, ignoring his comment. "How sentimental… You can't let go of the past can you?"

"Well N.N. swings to the other extreme doesn't it? That's something you'd hear given to a Reploid or Mechaniloid when they're first activated. It's just not a name you'd associate with a human."

She turned to him, a smirk on her face as her eyes gleamed gently. "Lelouch do you know why coal and oil are black?" She inquired as some snow fell, blown in from a distant peak, cutting off his questions.

He frowned, that was a philosophy question he'd never heard of before.

Briefly he wondered why she hadn't asked something about snow before shoving the thought aside.

"Why are coal and oil black?" He asked, deciding to humor her.

"Because they don't know what color they're supposed to be after being dug up." N.N. replied cryptically.

* * *

["All primary attack force units are now in position."] Someone reported over the radio as Cornelia smirked, sitting in the cockpit of her Gloucester.

"Understood. Euphemia will command our logistical elements from G-1 _Prince Lelouch_ as planned. Reserve and support combat elements will be commanded by Colonel and Iris from G-1 _Princess Nunnally_. Have the _Prince Lelouch_ stay back with the medical group, the _Bounty_ and the _Rosecrans_." Cornelia ordered as she prepared to launch.

["Princess Cornelia…"]

She frowned. "Guilford… This is about Euphie isn't it…?"

["Yes she really should be in a government agency… Not…"]

Cornelia closed her eyes and shook her head. "Mm… She's being unusually stubborn about this… She told me that she wanted to see actual combat for herself so that she's more prepared for when she takes over as Viceroy."

* * *

Euphie blinked as she noted a white and gold marker on the map, behind both the logistical line and the combat support line.

"What's that unit holding back behind the rear area?" She asked one of the officers next to her.

"That would be that ASEEC unit with the Eleven pilot."

"What? You mean that's the Lancelot? Wouldn't it be more prudent to move it up to the combat support line?" She questioned.

"As a rule numbers aren't permitted to operate Knightmares, but that specific unit answers to the Second Prince and has broad discretionary powers to utilize assets that fall under their control, and he says that he wants them to have as many chances at real combat as possible. The Viceroy naturally opposes this and thus they're in a position of limbo." The third officer stated as Euphie pursed her lips pensively.

 _"Suzaku... Will you have to fight today?"_

* * *

Ohgi watched as the excavators tunneled further into the soil and rock after being emplaced in holes bored by the Drill-type Burais.

He heard Zero walk over to him and turned to face the masked man. "Are you really going through with this?" Ohgi asked as he took his helmet off.

="Our opponent is Cornelia, whose forces are among the most well trained and led Britannia has to offer from its regulars."=

"Then why don't we cooperate with the Japanese Liberation Front…?" He murmured.

="What was that?"= Zero asked, feigning hurt. ="Ohgi… Don't you _believe_ in me anymore?"=

Ohgi turned to look at Zero. "What do you mean? I was the one who asked you to be our leader, remember!"

="Then there's only one answer to give."= Zero replied as he continued to watch the excavators dig deeper into the ground.

* * *

["Viceroy… It's time."] Darlton informed Cornelia as she thumbed the firing stub on her Gloucester's left hand control yoke.

"Right… Commence operation!" She ordered as she launched out of the _Prince Lelouch's_ starboard Knightmare catapult.

"You, the Japanese Liberation Front. You who time has left behind… You who have forgotten _basic_ human decency. You and your dream of a bygone golden age shall fall and be left to rot to _nothingness_!" She declared as Knightmares, Heavy Mechaniloids and Ride Armors emerged from seemingly every nook and cranny in the area while others launched from air and ground transports, followed soon after by tanks and APCs with infantry units supporting them.

* * *

"We're under enemy attack!?" Katase questioned as he marched into his command center, spotting the immense number of hostile contacts on the TACNET map.

"Yes sir! Britannian forces have _completely_ encircled the mountain! We've counted over a hundred Knightmares with an unknown number of supporting armored vehicles, Ride Armors, Mechaniloids and infantry!" A subordinate JLF officer reported.

" _How_ in the world did they get here without us noticing!?" Katase demanded angrily.

* * *

Numerous Britannian C-133, C-130, C-119, C-124 and C-123 airlifters rumbled past the mountain in the distance after descending from altitude, transport, utility, and gunship VTOLs mixed among them as the cargo planes began releasing T-4 VTOL dropships from their holds.

="It's begun."= Zero noted, having expected this.

"Huh… What the hell?!" Tamaki muttered as he turned to face their leader. "You've gotta be kidding Zero! Those troops have the entire area totally surrounded!" Tamaki exclaimed while pointing at the bulk of the Britannian airlifters. "There's no way out!" He shouted as several of the platoon and squad leaders chattered among themselves.

="We've already been cut off, our _only_ chance of surviving now is to _fight_."= Zero proclaimed to them.

"What!? We can't fight a Britannian force this size! We only have two understrength companies!" Inoue gasped in shock.

"Lemme get this straight, we're totally surrounded by at least one or two _divisions_ and you want us to fight them _head-on_?!" Tamaki snarled.

"Divisions under _Cornelia's_ command no less!" Sugiyama added. "Her forces are far stronger than any we've encountered!"

="Correct on both accounts."= Zero acknowledged. ="It would be a _miracle_ if we pull out a Pyrrhic victory, let alone a proper win."=

Ohgi wheeled around to look at Zero. "Zero! What're you saying!?"

=" _Every_ Messiah must perform **miracles** if they're to be acknowledged as anything more than fools spouting _nonsense_."= He stated. ="Therefore _we_ have to produce our _own_ miracles. Don't we?"= He asked of them.

"Now look, pulling this off ain't gonna be cheap! The price could be our _lives_! I knew it was a mistake to make you our leader, it should be me!" Tamaki shouted as he drew his carbine, Zero promptly drawing and pointing his own handgun at the man's head as Ohgi stepped out of the way hurriedly.

There was a brief pause as everyone took in what was happening, Sugiyama torn between supporting Zero or his friend as the others gazed on in mute horror.

Then Zero promptly flipped the gun in his hand until it was upside down, offering it grip first to Tamaki, much to the latter's sudden shock.

=" _All_ paths of retreat for us have been cut off. Sun Tzu's art of war states that if you throw your soldiers into positions from which there is _no_ retreat, they _will_ prefer **death** to **flight**."= Zero informed them. ="If you think you have what it takes to survive, let alone _win_ **without** me, then _shoot_ me. Someone. _**Anyone**_."= He taunted.

Everyone was too shocked to take the bait, they knew instinctively that the moment Zero went down, they'd end up like half of the Yamato Alliance. The ones who fell at Saitama or were overwhelmed by the Royal Guard after disobeying orders instead of being saved by that unknown Reploid Izumi had mentioned several times.

Sugiyama turned to look at Tamaki, the other man stunned into a stupor by what Zero had just done.

="Since you've joined the Black Knights, all of you have only _two_ choices."= Zero informed them finally.

="You may either ** _live_** with me… Or you may **_perish_** with me!"= He declared.

* * *

["We're completely surrounded and our immediate reserve forces have been cut off from their deployment points or captured all at once!"] Someone radioed the JLF HQ.

["General Katase! We've received a message from Cornelia's forces demanding our immediate and unconditional surrender!"] Someone else reported.

"Imbecile! If we fall here then we've lost, and the whole Resistance movement falls _with_ us!" Katase declared, not knowing that in Kyoto's eyes this was now far from the case should Zero prove himself.

"Then General…" One officer began before another cut him off.

"Do we engage the enemy in a counterattack or do we dig in for a siege?" A Captain asked.

"What about Todoh… Is he back from Kyoto yet?" Katase questioned.

"He reported he was still en-route, but with all the jamming we're not sure exactly _where_ he is, he could be twenty minutes away or he could be _hours_ away depending on traffic. But even in the best case scenario…"

Katase sighed. "Todoh won't make it in time, and even he'd be cut down by a force of this size without significant support."

The General opened his eyes, knowing they had no choice but to fight.

"Prepare to send out the Burais, Panzer-Hummels, Kalinkas and our remaining tanks! Strike the enemy in the weakest point so we can evacuate, deploy a secondary group to provide a diversion!" He ordered. "We'll show them the Japanese spirit and pride, this is our moment of truth!" Katase shouted, rallying his men.

* * *

Outside, massive hidden gates opened, revealing underground hangars exits for Knightmares and armored vehicles, numerous JLF Burais, Panzer-Hummels, and the unmistakable bulky 'walking tank'-like shapes of the Soviet made IBMP-4 Kalinkas with their handheld 30mm chain-fed auto-rifles and twin tube 125mm artillery cannons.

The factspheres of the Burais, 'turret' cameras of the Panzer-Hummels, and the monoeyes of the Kalinkas flared to life as the engines of MBTs, SPGs, and SPAAGs thrummed around them, infantry rushing about while ground crews directed vehicles and Knightmares to deploy.

* * *

The _Prince Lelouch_ rumbled backwards to a secure position while Euphie and her staff officers observed the TACNET map.

"We believe that the enemy base is located somewhere in the mountains here…" An officer said as he gestured at the indicated area on the map with a pointer stick. "However until we obtain the full list of their collaborators we can't simply wipe them out with our bombers."

"Enemy forces are engaging our encirclement, they appear to be focusing on the weakpoints to provide a chance for a breakout." Another officer noted. "We'll be able to ascertain the general location of where their HQ is based on this information."

"Our forces are divided into three field combat commands, the forces led by General Dalton here." The third officer stated as he pointed at a group to the north-east. "Under General Alex here." He moved to the force that had emerged directly from Narita-2 and was heading straight up the mountainside. "And Viceroy Cornelia and Lord Guilford here." He moved the pointer over to the force on the south-west side of the mountain. "As for our flanking forces… Guh?" He mumbled as the TACNET display burst into static, catching Euphie and the officers by surprise.

"Enemy ECM. Initiate ECCM measures." Someone ordered.

"Roger." A technician replied as the board began to stabilize and resolve into a clear picture once again.

* * *

["The enemy force should be meeting us any moment now, switch ECCM to mode five and link up on channel Alpha Four."] Darlton ordered as he led a squad of Gloucesters, backed by Sutherlands with Liverpools providing fire support, up the mountainside.

["The enemy, what're we calling the local-built Glasgow copies of theirs again?"] Darlton inquired as he checked his frame's targeting software quickly.

["Burais sir. Apparently it translates to hoodlum, scoundrel, ruffian, villain, tough, or 'without relying on others' depending on the context."] One of the trailing pilots reported.

["How appropriate. Anyways they might be copies but their performance is much improved compared to normal Glasgows based on prior observation, so don't let your guard down even if they're not quite on par with our Fifth Gen units, especially if they mix European or Soviet monkey models into their formations."] The Britannian General ordered.

["Yes, my lord."]

* * *

Trees slid aside as a squad of three Burais were elevated to the surface on a previously hidden lift.

["Clever, they turned this entire mountain into a fortress, likely intending to use it to halt our invasion forces seven years ago. All units be on the lookout for hidden pillboxes and bunkers!"] Cornelia warned.

["Your highness! Please fall back!"] Guilford pleaded as his Gloucester matched speed with Cornelia's custom unit.

She chuckled. ["Guilford don't treat me as though I'm one of those hapless noble girls you used to date."]

Cornelia then shot forwards at the Burais, outpacing her guard squadron.

["Princess Cornelia!"] Her knight cried out in exasperation and worry.

The Burai pilots were stunned by her presence on the battlefield.

["It's Cornelia!"] One of them shouted.

["Idiots! Don't just sit there! SHOOT HER!"] The squad leader ordered as all three units opened fire on the Gloucester unit. ["Don't panic! Take her down! Use short controlled bursts!"]

Cornelia weaved through their hastily aimed fire and raised her EM lance before sweeping it like a club and knocking the two Burais on the flank to the ground and then impaling the middleman, the Burai falling limp as she withdrew the polearm and let the disabled Knightmare collapse to the ground before dispatching his squadmates with a single shot to each of their cockpits from her rifle.

Guilford fired a slash harken at a depressingly obsolete First Pacific War era twin flak gun turret that was taking aim at Cornelia, crushing its gun crew and the weapon's loading mechanisms. ["Right, well then I'll cover you from the rear."] He conceded.

She huffed and had her Knightmare take a dramatic pose in order to incite the less patient enemy troops. ["Well… Cornelia is _here_! Is there **no-one** who will challenge me!?"] She demanded over her loudspeakers.

* * *

Far atop the mountain, a very different challenge was occurring.

="What's wrong? Challenge me and _try_ to take me down, or do you admit you _cannot_ do the job?"= Zero taunted as the Black Knights stood dumbfounded, Ohgi glad that most of the rank and file were hunkered down at the points Zero had ordered them to wait at so they didn't have to see this.

"Alright fine… Do what you want…" Tamaki groused, admitting defeat.

Sugiyama frowned and relaxed as well. "We acknowledge you as our leader Zero…"

="Thank you very much… I greatly appreciate it."= Lelouch replied with a smirk on his face behind the mask.

* * *

C2 watched as convoys of APCs, Glasgows, and transport trucks rolled through the town, blaring evacuation orders from their speakers as several Maverick Hunter patrol cars did the same.

Already she could see Britannians, Reploids, and Elevens begin to trickle out of buildings, escorted by soldiers and Maverick Hunters to transport trucks and APCs, which began slowly filing out of town, far more than were initially estimated to have remained in town by Lelouch, with many more likely still hunkered down until the shooting stopped.

Given the circumstances it was likely the civil authorities and the military had issued contradictory orders and most people had chosen to stay put rather than evacuate and risk getting caught in the crossfire.

But now that it was occurring it was also taking far longer than she would've liked, barring no complications she estimated another five to six minutes before the landslide hit.

The evacuation would take at least another half-hour to complete at this pace.

"It took them long enough…" The Reploid mumbled before glancing over to the other side of a building and spotting a familiar man walking down an empty street.

She froze immediately, recognizing the man as one of the engineers who'd been working on the Code R project.

Joseph Fenette.

She glanced up the mountain towards where Zero was due to enact his plan and then down at Fenette.

The man had dual majored in engineering _and_ geology, as it was one of the few effective ways to ensure a stable future for his family as an upper middle-class Britannian who'd clawed up to that economic status tooth and nail.

But she couldn't exactly forgive him for 'following orders', even if his daughter was a close friend.

That and he had answers she wanted to know.

She'd endure Lelouch's inevitable rant about her hypocrisy later.

C2 leapt down from above and landed behind him, the man jumping and spinning around upon hearing the clang of her feet impacting the ground, freezing when he spotted her gaze resting upon him.

"Y… You!" He gasped.

"You're a long way from Code-R Joseph… Did you get lost or were you doing something for your colleagues?" She inquired as she marched up to him, the man sweating and sputtering nervously as she activated her armor and pointed her buster at him. "I don't want to have to kill you, for Shirley's sake at the least so just take me there. I take all the data from your labs, and you get to go home. That doesn't sound like such a bad deal to me." She stated calmly, the man's eyes widening as he realized how close the Reploid was to his daughter, putting the link between Zero's newfound ally and the new assistant for Lelouch together.

* * *

Overlooking the pair from a nearby building, Sigma grinned smugly before turning and walking off before he was spotted, but not after radioing in to X and Zero about a report of a Maverick taking a man hostage at that location.

"Knights take queen. Or do they?" He chuckled to himself as he leapt to higher ground after his subordinates acknowledged they were on the way, he knew exactly what Zero was planning after hearing reports from his agents regarding the Black Knights purchasing drilling equipment on the black market.

It was relatively simple for anyone with the right information to figure out the other half because said equipment could transfer energy directly, and the massive reservoir at the peak of the mountain was already full of geothermally heated water.

The perfect storm for an artificial mudslide of _epic_ proportions.

All it needed was the right nudge with the right amount of force applied in the right place.

And he _knew_ the Black Knights would provide that nudge.

* * *

Cornelia impaled another Burai, leaping her Gloucester over it and pulling her lance out as it toppled backwards. ["Only Burais on this slope…? I'd expected better."] She groused as she continued onwards before dodging fire from a Kalinka as it suddenly roared out of cover and drew its oversized knuckler type weapon, which had been mislabeled a Katar by intelligence previously, and charged her.

Cornelia backed away before roaring around the comparatively sluggish Fourth Gen Knightmare and stabbed her lance through the side of its cockpit, watching the monoeye dim as a result before the Machine slumped over as she withdrew it. ["Idiots, I've seen better tactics from fresh Soviet conscripts."] She scoffed, unimpressed by the JLF's degraded piloting quality.

Off to the side a group of newer model Ride Armors blew away a JLF anti-armor position with their built in weapons as the rest of her forces moved up.

* * *

["Enemy defensive lines are heavily concentrated in my sector! This may be the target!"] Darlton reported as he and his units charged up the mountainside, blasting away at the defenses with 25mm rounds, heavy cannon shells, and anti-armor grenades while the JLF returned fire from mobile units, armored vehicles and bunkers.

["Split!"] He ordered his personal squad as they broke formation and wiped out the second attack wave that bore down on them, armored vehicles and Knightmares billowing smoke, bursting into flames, exploding or just simply ceasing to function as they were destroyed.

The bunkers and pillboxes were prevented from effectively intervening by accurate heavy artillery fire, rocket assisted 203mm super-heavy shells punching down through the soil and reinforced concrete and blowing out entire positions while mortars and smaller caliber howitzers blew away more exposed defenses.

* * *

"Second counter-attack wave wiped out, it had no effect!" One of the JLF officers reported.

Katase was in total awe, he'd never seen such an effective combat force in his life, even during the invasion Britannia had sustained casualties thanks to localized efforts, but this… He wasn't even sure if they'd even _damaged_ any of the advancing Knightmares and Ride Armors let alone had anyone _survive_ long enough to encounter the supporting mechanized and armored units. "Their sheer dominance is overwhelming… Insurmountable!" He mumbled in horror.

* * *

["General Darlton, based on the movements of the enemy defensive groups, I've estimated that one of the main entrances to the JLF base is that mountain lodge up ahead."] One of Darlton's subordinates reported.

["I'd say the exact word for this situation is 'bingo'."] Darlton joked.

["Well sir… Technically…"]

["Oh just call it in already mister literal."] He ordered, rolling his eyes.

["Yes, my lord!"]

* * *

A flare shot up on the side of the mountain, visible from Cornelia's position.

["Is that… Darlton?"] Cornelia mumbled

Guilford remained stone-faced. ["So that's where the main enemy base is located?"] He noted.

["Right, we're securing our position _here_."] Cornelia ordered.

He smirked. ["Are you sure about this?"] Guilford asked.

["I don't _need_ to **steal** achievements from my subordinates like some individuals tend to do. Send a detachment from the reserve force to back up Darlton, looks like he'll be getting _another_ medal."]

* * *

Lelouch flipped through a notebook before taking off his mask, safely in the confines of his Burai.

"Impressive as always Cornelia, a very logical deployment." He noted. "However excellent it is though, it's also easy to read, as is your location in it."

* * *

Elsewhere, the Purists sat just ahead of Colonel's support detachment, the six remaining Sutherlands they had left idling about as a rear-guard. Jeremiah sighing while he lazed about as he knew that Kewell's disastrous mishap during the airport kidnapping incident had further sullied their reputation.

While the 'Orange' comments still came, they weren't nearly as frequent as the insults Kewell suffered about leaves.

Speaking of his former friend, the ginger was on the verge of a constant nervous breakdown, Jeremiah honestly couldn't blame him, had things gone differently with the 'Orange' thing, he'd likely have suffered the same fate.

"It bites being a rear guard…" He mumbled as Kewell practically frothed at the mouth.

"Why aren't we moving up!" Kewell demanded of Viletta as the woman sighed. "We should be reinforcing General Darlton!"

"We're not part of his reserves, and in either case only a single unit was detached to provide support at this time, until we get further orders we're to cover Viceroy Cornelia's rear-lines." Viletta told him, slowly getting fed up with Kewell's nonsense.

"Rear-lines! The only way we could be further from the action is if we were behind the _Lancelot_!" He shouted furiously.

"Calm yourself Kewell… We might get a shot sooner or later, we just have to _wait_ for an opportunity to present itself." Jeremiah noted, he'd observed the flow of battles like this before, while the momentum was currently decisively in favor of Britannia, if Zero should make an appearance they might have an opening to reclaim some of their lost glory.

* * *

"We've lost contact with Nakamura's unit!" Someone shouted as reports streamed into the JLF command center.

"No response from sector three!" Another JLF officer noted with increasing dismay.

"Major Tanaka's been killed!"

"Kurata and Kuroda are gone too!"

"What about Nagai? Is his unit still active?" Someone asked.

Katase hung his head. "Where's Todoh…" He whispered. "If only he were here… Then perhaps the divine wind of Itsukushima would blow again…"

* * *

A pair of Britannian soldiers manning a roadblock dove for cover as the two trucks being used by the four holy swords plowed through the weighted plastic barricades, gunfire bouncing off their armored trailers and cabs as they passed by.

"Sir… Don't you think this is a little… Extreme?" Asahina asked nervously.

"Asahina, Chiba, prep the Burai Kais ASAP. Tell Urabe and Senba behind us to do the same." Todoh ordered. "Traffic is blocked off all around Narita, which means they've already begun to attack… I just pray we're not too late to save at least some of our comrades."

* * *

Upon encountering a sheer rock face, Darlton's unit began to use their slash harkens as climbing ropes to ascend further up the mountain, the man smirking as he observed the formation closing in on the peak. ["Now the core of all organized resistance that still remains in Area 11-"]

* * *

["Will now be finished."] Cornelia noted smugly.

* * *

C2 marched Joseph Fenette down an alley, her buster trained on the man's center mass as they marched through alleys and side streets to evade patrols and the convoys of evacuating civilians. "How much further…?" She asked.

"More than a few blocks, we're set up on an old university campus that pre-dates the invasion on the south side of town." He explained.

"I see…" She mumbled before whirling around after coming out onto the street to see and X and Zero pointing their busters at her, having laid in wait to ambush C2, her eyes bulging out in surprise given how they'd been clearly expecting her.

There was a rumble and then C2 suddenly felt her arms constrict around her midsection as Vile's ride armor grabbed her and clenched her in its grasp.

"Not so hot now are you?" The violet armored Hunter chuckled and squeezed her, C2's armor beginning to crumple in the Ride Armor's iron grip.

" _Shit…"_ C2 thought as Zero and X walked over to Fenette and began to question him as to why he hadn't evacuated while a squad of Britannian troops marched up to take possession of a known member of the Black Knights.

" _I can't go all out with the civilians around… But how do I escape this…?"_

* * *

["Right!"] Lelouch exclaimed over the Burai's loudspeakers. ["All preparations have now been completed! Black Knights! Prepare to move out!"] His voice boomed.

Burais and Panzer-Hummels rumbled to life as the few armored units the Black Knights had on hand followed suit, infantry rushing about to their troop carriers.

"Damnit we don't have a choice!" One of the rookies shouted.

"I don't wanna die! Let's make a miracle happen!" Another exclaimed.

Ohgi grimaced as he powered on his Burai as well.

"Yeah! We have Zero with us! This'll be _our_ Itsukushima!" A third yelled in agreement.

["We of the Black Knights are going to launch a decisive surprise attack on the Britannian forces from the summit of the mountain!"] Zero explained. ["Per my instructions you will charge en-masse down to point three!"]

["The intent of this operation is to capture Cornelia, the Second Princess of Britannia!"] Zero informed them as Kallen sealed up the cockpit of the Guren, the clear windscreen of the Knightmare's cockpit opacating as its head deployed and the machine booted up. ["Our breakthrough route will be opened by the Guren Mark Two!"]

["Q1, use penetrating electrode number three. Settle the issue of their ground forces with one blow."]

["Got it…"] She acknowledged as she placed the wave surger emitter over the digging unit.

["Output linkage confirmed. Wave surger levels ready and holding."] She noted as the air around the surger arm began to shimmer from the haze.

Kallen exhaled to clear her mind. ["Activating gauntlet now!"] She warned as she hit the switch.

Black and red energy surged off the arm of the Guren and illuminated the area in a hellish glaze before fading as the Guren ejected the spent surger cartridge from its arm, Kallen panting and sweating slightly due to the sudden temperature spike.

She briefly wondered if it failed before the ground began to shake and a deep rumble filled the air. ["It worked!"]

The ground before the Black Knights _shattered_ as the pressure inside the reservoir passed the breaking point and blew an _immense_ hole in the side of the mountain, water, rock, and soil merging into an unfathomably destructive mudslide.

* * *

Standing outside the JLF lodge entrance N.N. turned to see the slide pass her as the sensors inside the HQ frazzled out due to the seismic interference.

The immortal could only whistle as she tracked it down to the foot of the mountain based on the predicted course of it due to terrain funneling.

* * *

["An Earthquake?!"] A JLF soldier questioned as he and his compatriot attempted to maneuver their Burais out of the path of the slide.

["At a time like this?! GUAAHH!"]The second man screamed as his machine was swept away.

* * *

["What the hell!?"] General Alex shouted as he and the bulk of his troops were swept away as well.

* * *

Aboard the bridge of the _Princess Nunnally_ Colonel's eyes snapped open as Britannian Officers chattered away with Iris about the landslide, before he picked up a handset and spoke into it. "This is Automata to Roost, get those birds in the air. _Now_."

* * *

 **September 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **O'Hare Field, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Scramble alert sirens blared as pilots rushed to their F-14 Skyfangs, F-15 Spitefuls, B-57 Hendersons, B-66 Destroyers and A-9 Tempest IIs.

Canopies closed as final checks were performed, munitions were double-checked to ensure they were properly fastened into bays or onto pylons and one by one the jets taxied towards the runway.

The ground crews waved them off while yet more jets were armed and fueled up.

["First wave stand by for takeoff. Second wave commence arming and fueling."] Someone announced over the base PA system as several AV-1 Cobras took off nearby from the VTOL pads, their landing skids retracting into their airframes as they ascended.

* * *

 **September 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Narita Range, Honshu, Area 11.**

["Status report!"] Cornelia demanded as the slide roared past her and Guilford.

["We're still trying to confirm who's still active! Everything's a total mess your highness!"] Someone replied in a flurry of panic.

["Your highness pull back! You're in danger there!"] Guilford demanded, wary of any debris or perhaps the slide expanding.

["I don't care! Forget about me, find Darlton and Alex!"] She ordered angrily.

* * *

"Will this place hold together!?" Katase demanded as the JLF HQ shook violently.

"The reinforced sectors, including the central area, should make it through!" One of the Officers chattered through the shaking.

Katase could only hope he was correct.

* * *

Lloyd smirked as he watched the slide over the TACNET, noting it was approaching the town at the base of the mountain like an unstoppable juggernaut. "Oh my, at this rate what's left of them will be swept all the way to the bottom, along with everything else _there_ as well."

"These heat readings are abnormal! Do you think a hydrovolcanic eruption was artificially induced?!" Cecile asked him, Lloyd simply keeping his smug grin on his face as he turned his head to look at her.

"Normally I'd say this would be impossible… Unless someone used a field operable version of Rakshata's radiant wave surger." He stated calmly much to Cecile's shock.

"Has something happened?" Suzaku asked obliviously whilst peering out of his cockpit, having no TACNET access of his own since Lancelot was deactivated.

"It has nothing to do with us right now Suzaku, so just calm down." Lloyd informed him as he glanced at the Lancelot's pilot whom pursed his lips and furrowed his brow in confusion.

* * *

X, Zero, C2, Vile, the soldiers and Joseph all turned upon hearing the approaching slide and gazed upon the destructive tsunami of mud as it swept up all in its path, C2 watching as several of the handful of _skyscrapers_ began to topple over from the sheer _force_ of the deluge.

For C2, eyes almost bulging out of her face, the real horror was that all of this was _her_ fault for performing the survey that Lelouch had used as the basis for his plan.

A plan that he had gone ahead with regardless of her reservations about their ability to funnel and control such a destructive force of nature.

" _Oh dear god no… What have we done…"_ She thought as she watched dozens of screaming soldiers, Maverick Hunters, and civilians get swept under and buried beneath countless tons of earth and rubble.

"Son of a **bi** -" Vile started before the slide swept over them as well, easily overtaking the futile attempts to outrun it.

Everything went dark for C2 as critical damage errors flashed across her vision, she felt herself be ripped free of the Ride Armor's grip and then tumble helplessly through the mud, rubble and soil like a ragdoll being thrown about by a child.

[COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM OFFLINE. RECEPTOR AND TRANSMITTER ANTENNAS DESTROYED.]

[MARK SEVENTEEN BUSTER UNIT BARREL OBSTRUCTED. RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE CLEARING.]

[WARNING. INDIGESTIBLE ELEMENTS INGESTED INTO CATALYTIC ENGINE, IMMEDIATE PURGING REQUIRED.]

[CRITICAL SYSTEM ERROR, APOGEE MOTORS OFFLINE. FOOT AND LEG THRUSTERS DISABLED.]

[MAJOR COOLING SYSTEM BLOCKAGE DETECTED. IMMEDIATE CLEARAGE REQUIRED.]

[WARNING. JOINT ARMOR PROTECTION COMPROMISED. SEEK IMMEDIATE REPAIRS.]

[CORE TEMPERATURE SPIKE DETECTED. SWITCHING TO DIRECT RADIATION MODE.]

" _Lelouch… Help…"_ She thought weakly.

[EMERGENCY BEACON ONLINE. WARNING. TRANSMITTER INACTIVE.]

" _I don't… Want... To... Die… Like... this…"_

[ **W͜a͟** R͠N҉1͢{͠, ́Cr͝17̢!͠ **4L̀** 5Y̴St3̴^^͜ ͘3͡ _ **r̶0**_ [̸[,̶ ͝uN̢ **1** _҉[̶_ ̀n͢ _7̵1f̛_ #̷e͏d 1n **7҉%͟** u _$͏!̢_ &+͘]

[ **C̀ON͞D̶I̵TIO͝N ̧MET. ̵SY͡ST̀EM͏ OV͏E͢RR̶IDE͟.̀ I͢** **NTĮA͝TED͜** **.͡]**

C2 screamed as a foreign code began to violate her very _being_. The cries of her anguish lost in the echoes of destruction around her.

* * *

 **AN: Yeah, shit got real at the end. And like I said, this is where the breaks from canon start really coming into play. Britannian air and artillery support was practically non-existent in the canon battle, which struck me as odd in retrospect given Cornelia's competence at Saitama. Even when it was clear that the Black Knights were overwhelming them, no effort was made to call in fire support for either Cornelia, Guilford, or Darlton, leaving it to Suzaku to force Lelouch to order a retreat.**

 **The Suzaku and Lelouch scene was adapted from the pre-Narita audio drama stage before anyone starts.**

 **I find it hilarious that it's canon that Lelouch is totally clueless sometimes because Suzaku has more _practical_ life experience than he does.**

 **Anywho, made several references throughout, see if you can spot them.**

 **As for the Kalinkas, they're basically smaller, KMF sized Tieren ground types from 00 with landspinners on the legs and an extended 'backpack' housing their cockpit block, also boasting a 30mm chain-rifle based on the PKMN and a heavy cannon based on the RGSh-30. And some other things to make them more Knightmare-like such as slash harkens.**

 **Also that 'katar' thing that's really an oversized knuckle duster is still there.**

 **It's not a katar because I haven't seen a picture of an actual katar that looks like that, plus it's basically functionally a brass knuckles since even the Gundam version admits that it's not a stabbing or cutting weapon.**

 **Anyways, Russians don't really bother with factspheres much in the same way the Europeans and Black Knights don't due to the vulnerabilities of such systems, instead focusing on tried and true sensor technologies to reduce to maintenance impact, since Russian design theory is to make it simple enough for a conscript military to maintain and use, with things like the AKM, T-55, MiG-21, Mi-8 and RPG-7 being exemplars of this trend IRL.**

 **In essence the jump to their Seventh Gen Knightmare would basically be them going from the T-90 to the T-14 Armata, a massive leap in capability and complexity from previous machines.**

 **As for Saburo Okawachi and the various JLF officers uttered over radio chatter, those are actually the names given in the show.**

 **For the G-series naming conventions, G-1 Command Ships are named after Royals, G-8 Carriers are named after Cavalry Personnel, G-9 Medical Ships after Army Medics, Nurses and words intended to imply their medical role such as 'Comfort' or 'Mercy', G-3 AA Ships after Fortifications, G-2s after Artillery Personnel, and G-7 Logistics vessels after words implying great resources. They're based on the same basic engineering but not all of them resemble the standard G-1s, with the combat oriented vessels being squatter and more heavily armored while the support units like the G-9s, G-8s, and G-7s are larger than the Command and Control oriented G-1.**

 **Always found it odd that the G-1 is implied to be part of a series but we never see any others.**

 **On a final note. Disturbingly enough, by sheer coincidence I set the battle of Narita in this fic on the _actual day_ that it happened according to the episode "Geass vs Geass", which is the 14th of September as Lelouch notes that's the day Shirley's father had died after C.C. looks through her journal while the two search her room.**

 **What are the odds, I was just trying to make the story flow better but by sheer happenstance I matched the dates.**

 **Or at least I think so... Can't really remember if I deliberately put it on this date or not.**


	13. Stage 13: A Pyrrhic Affair

**AN: So about the cliffhanger last time.**

 **If I kept going it probably would've ruined the tense nature of the thing.**

 **That said. Here's Narita Part Two.**

* * *

 **September 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Narita Range, Honshu, Area 11.**

Lelouch grinned with a dark smugness about him as he overlooked the devastation Kallen had just unleashed. _"Hnh… It's even more destructive than I anticipated, while we did succeed in isolating Cornelia's unit, the overkill was just too much, I should've read into C2's predictions for such a flow further than I did, she was remarkably thorough with them as a matter of pride given her origins. Or perhaps I should've had Nina tutor me in probability…"_ He thought as his forces began to mobilize, unaware as to the extent of the civilian casualties his forces had just caused.

Speaking of C2… Her transmitter had gone dark, either she was evading detection…

Or she'd been caught in the slide.

That thought soured his mood immediately, as he had no idea what her damage tolerance was for such events.

And he'd be lying if he'd said he only cared what had happened to her because she was an important combat asset.

Regardless, he had a battle to win first, afterwards he'd find out what happened.

* * *

["New enemy force is moving in from the summit, Carius's force is moving to engage them."]

["Hoping to take advantage of the chaos are they…"] Cornelia mused as an urgent call was forwarded to her.

["Emergency broadcast from the Carius unit! New force _isn't_ the Japanese Liberation Front! They think it's… The Black Knights!"]

Cornelia's eyes widened. ["What?! Then it's…"]

* * *

["ZERO!"] Kewell snarled as his Sutherland rocketed forwards towards the lead Black Knights formation.

"Kewell!" Jeremiah shouted in dismay. "Get back here or I'll have you shot for desertion!" He demanded as Viletta and the other Purists stood dumbfounded behind him.

["I'm taking drastic measures to reclaim our honor _Orange_! If you want some of your own, then follow me!"] Kewell responded in a fervor as Jeremiah sighed and ordered the unit to hold formation.

"But Jeremiah!" Viletta protested.

He turned to her. "He's chosen his fate. We haven't been ordered to break formation, and in any case his death may provide us valuable intelligence on Zero's capabilities."

"But…"

"I don't like this any more than you do, but nobody would charge a Royal Guard unit unless they were either desperate… Or absolutely certain of their victory..." Jeremiah mumbled as his eyes widened in realization.

"Oh my god…" He asked as he turned to look at Viletta.

"Jeremiah…"

"I know, all units move out! We need to cover the Princess!" He ordered as he sat down in his seat and sealed up his cockpit, Viletta and the others doing the same.

The five Sutherlands tore off in Kewell's wake soon after

* * *

["Cornelia only has limited reinforcements heading her way, smash right through them!"] Zero ordered.

["Yeah! We can do this now!"] A Black Knight shouted as his Burai opened fire on a hapless Sutherland, cutting down the unit.

* * *

Inoue lowered her binocs as more anti-armor infantry disembarked from a pair of ex-JLF APCs and took position around her.

"Alright everybody you know the game plan, our job is to watch the backs of the Knightmare forces. So aim for the sides of the hulls and turrets, make sure not to hit it at too sharp an angle otherwise the warheads will skip off." She informed her unit as she moved forwards and pointed their RPGs at an approaching tank unit. "Fire!"

HEAT warheads lanced out, puncturing the side of an unaware MBT and blowing its ammo racks, flame spewing from the turret hatches as the vehicle brewed up.

Several more tanks fell victim to the same tactic before Inoue's unit moved quickly to avoid being annihilated by return fire as the surviving M48s turned their turrets and let loose with their 90mm linear cannons and machine guns, hastening Inoue's team to withdraw to the next position as the tanks in turn fell back as well after firing off smoke grenades to provide cover, not wishing to be caught in another ambush.

* * *

["Carius's unit has been wiped out!"] Someone reported over the radio as Colonel sighed.

"Order all fire support companies to zero in on this grid-square and to await my command to fire." He ordered as he designated the general area were the Black Knights were moving up.

"Roger! All fire support units standing by."

"And bring up the Twelfth Armored Battalion." The Reploid added after a second's thought.

* * *

Dozens of towed and self-propelled guns, mortars and MLRS units traversed and elevated until they were ranged in on the co-ordinates being provided by Kewell's Sutherland.

As did the guns of the four artillery landcruisers.

* * *

Meanwhile, at one of the reserve staging areas, Captain Richard Brenner waved a hand forward from the commander's hatch of his Battalion's HQ tank as platoons of M60s and M113s rumbled forwards, backed by a full company of Sutherlands and Ride Armors, plus several command jeeps and trucks.

"Lin, take the mechanized and move up behind the enemy AT platoon attacking the 11th Armored's 1st Squadron, we'll distract them from the front while the Knightmares and Ride Armors cover our flanks." He ordered over the radio to his XO.

["Roger that."]

And with that, Brenner's Wolves mobilized.

* * *

"Carius's unit has been wiped out… If I can finish this before Zero reaches Princess Cornelia…" Kewell smirked as he imagined the joy on Marika's face when her big brother came home to the barracks as _Hero of the Empire_.

["Kewell…"] Jeremiah's voice cut curtly into his comms channel.

"So you came after all 'eh Orange?"

["Kewell fall back! Rushing them won't do any good!"] Jeremiah shouted as Kewell cut down a pair of Burais, their cockpits flying off as they collapsed.

"Zero! If you're here, I, Lord Kewell Soresei, will be your end!" He challenged as Zero's Burai stopped in front of him.

* * *

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Kewell Soresei… Can't say I've heard of you, unless you're known as the 'Baronet of Leaves.'" He taunted. "Either way I don't have time just this minute, so I'll have my substitute send my regards."

Kewell roared as he charged forwards before his assault rifle was slapped away by the Guren as it landed between him and Zero's Burai.

["Jeremiah!"] Viletta exclaimed in shock.

["Yes… That looks like the Seventh Gen units that our forces have encountered in Area 12 and elsewhere… All units keep your distance! It doesn't look like it has much in the way of ranged weapons!"] He ordered as Kewell activated his stun tonfas and charged again.

["Worthless Eleven garbage! There's no way this is a Seventh Gen!"] He sneered as the Guren leapt clean over him and landed behind his unit, Kewell's Sutherland spinning around as the Guren zipped up to knife fighting range and jabbed its combat blade into his unit's right arm.

["Is this the Machine that destroyed Carius's unit!?"]

["Yeah that's right! We can finally go up against you Britannians on equal footing head-on! And leading our counter-attack is this baby! The Black Knights' own Seventh Generation Knightmare! Guren Mark Two!"] Kallen proclaimed as she lunged forwards with the Guren's wave surger arm, the extension pylons of the arm closing the distance between the claw and the Sutherland in a split second.

Kewell realized too late the danger he was in was as the unit grabbed his Sutherland's head.

* * *

"Sorry." Kallen whispered unapologetically, not even meaning the word in the slightest as she fired up the wave surger and blasted Kewell's unit with energy, watching trapped air pockets and liquids in coolant and hydraulic lines bubble and burst against the Sutherland's metal 'skin' as parts popped off the Knightmare at random.

Kewell's eyes widened as he realized what was going on and tried futilely to continue fighting while the cockpit temperature spiked to insane levels.

["RAAAAGHH Damn… You…"] He wheezed as the auto-eject fired off, barely escaping the immolation of the frame as the bubbling remains collapsed to the ground before the Yggdrasil drive went critical and detonated in a brilliant conflagration.

["My god…"] Jeremiah whispered as he recognized Rakshata's work from his time at Colchester. ["All units fall back! Relay to friendly forces, do _not_ engage the Red Knightmare in close quarters, for the love of Darwin if that one grabs you just eject!"] He shouted as the remaining purists withdrew, firing away at the Guren and the other Black Knights as they attempted to give chase.

* * *

["Red Enemy KMF confirmed to be modified Seventh Gen unit, Guren type. It appears to be equipped with some kind of energy based melee weapon, possibly a wave surger based on Chief Warrant Officer Gottwald's description of the device."]

"I see…" Colonel mused. "Commence grid square removal."

"But what about the Purists…?! They may hate us but they're still on our side!" Iris squawked in alarm.

"They have a better chance of escaping than you give them credit for. All batteries, fire at will." He ordered. "After all… Artillery does bring _dignity_ to what otherwise would be an unsightly brawl." The Reploid stated dismissively.

"Sir, we don't have enough barrels on the field to prevent the enemy from overrunning multiple sectors." An aide reported.

"Then focus on the highest priority ones that require support." He clarified.

"Yes, my lord."

* * *

At that moment the artillery opened up, not as a brilliant cascade, but a slow rolling drumbeat that transcended into a crescendo of thunder.

But these shots weren't intended to kill, not at all.

They were simply the first _ranging_ salvo.

After which the 'god of the modern battlefield' would let lady luck guide his rounds.

* * *

Lelouch smirked. "All the tasks at hand have been cleared, all that's left to do is check my opponent." He declared smugly.

And then the shells started raining down with unearthly howls.

Explosions rippled through the Black Knights' lines as artillery shells of varying calibers shrieked down from the heavens, a hapless Burai was sent flipping end over end as a 203mm HE shell blew the roughly six-ton machine into the air and sent it flying about a dozen or so feet like an angry child harshly discarding a toy.

["Zero what's happening!?"] Someone, Kallen likely, shouted as more shells rained down the Black Knights while several IFFs fizzled out of existence on their TACNET.

"We're under artillery attack!" Lelouch shouted as he tried to figure out _who_ could have possibly ranged in on them so quickly as the main barrage began to rain down on them.

And then it dawned on him. "Colonel…" He whispered, fury blossoming on his face.

Of course the Repliforce commander would hedge his bets, he was arrogant and prideful, but like Cornelia he believed that on the battlefield one was either prudent or dead and more often than not actually practiced what he preached.

"All forces keep up the momentum!" Lelouch ordered sharply. "Anyone who falls behind will get cut to shreds by the artillery or air support!"

["Air support!? I don't see anything!"] Someone replied over the radio.

"That's because they're still en-route, aircraft don't just magically show up over the target zone!" He replied irately.

["Oh shit."]

Nobody questioned him further as they advanced towards Cornelia, only now with the added detriment of enemy artillery support working against them.

"Keep moving, we need to close in with Cornelia's main force!" Lelouch ordered as trees splintered around them as several more Knightmares were destroyed or damaged beyond repair by artillery shells while numerous infantrymen and women were wiped out as shrapnel and high explosives tore into their lines.

Yet, more than one of them survived only thanks to the body armor that had been provided to Black Knights.

" _Of all the times… Damnit C2 what was so important that you ended up getting caught in a landslide."_ He thought with more than a bit of irritation. _"Regardless… Move swiftly my forces, if you survive this, you can call yourselves soldiers. And afterwards…"_

* * *

Colonel smirked as he watched enemy IFFs flicker out one by one. "Did Zero not seriously anticipate us bringing artillery? I overestimated his intelligence." He noted. "No, no, he simply underestimated our ability to predict his course and range in on it…" Colonel realized after a moment.

"Sir, they're entering danger-close range with Cornelia's personal force…" A staff officer informed him as Colonel sighed.

"Right then, shift the barrage to deal with the outlying hostiles, all batteries are to fire at their individual discretion. Bring up the M46s and M47s into the line as well and have them shell certain areas if possible, we need every weapon we can get firing on the JLF fortifications to keep them suppressed." He ordered cautiously.

"Yes, my lord!"

* * *

The city of Narita-2 was as silent as the grave, a fitting term given the fact everyone who'd been out in the streets were now entombed under tons of earth let loose by Lelouch's ill-thought out master plan.

Or at least that was the case for _most_.

[ **DA͡T͝A͝ ̶SE͞T. ̧D́LN͞-00͟3͜.̷ GU̵T͏S͝ ̡MAN̕. E̶N͢AB͏L̴ED.** ]

A brown and white arm covered in thicker than usual armor plate burst from the ground as C2 hauled herself out of the mud and rubble.

The battered Reploid scanned about as she glanced over at the smoke rising into the air from the continuing battle.

She marched towards the engagement, seemingly in a trance before she heard something emerge behind her.

Turning, she spotted a damaged Vile dragging himself out of the mud, his back mounted cannon ripped clean off him and his armor badly scuffed and scarred, while his Ride Armor had been clearly abandoned given its absence.

"Uhggh… Fucking hell… And people say _I_ don't give a damn about collateral…" He groaned as he rose to his feet and noticed C2 as Zero and X also ripped themselves free from the mud further back.

"Mission parameters changed… Eliminating new target." C2 stated emotionlessly as she looked for the heaviest object she could lift, spotting a half-buried APC nearby and ripping the vehicle out of the mud before swinging it around.

At this point Vile had noticed her. "Oh you've got to be _ **fucking**_ kidding me…" He muttered as he saw the armored vehicle get torn from the mud by C2.

The violet-armored Hunter dove for cover as C2 _flung_ the armored vehicle at him, the machine bouncing across the terrain and smacking into Zero as he finally extricated himself from the slide, the red-armored hunter vanishing as the APC crashed into a building.

Which promptly turned into an inferno after a spark ignited a ruptured gas main.

In a faint haze C2 could hear X screaming something.

The virus estimated its chances of continued survival in C2's current state if it retained control and found them wanting, noting that X would likely take pity on her based on logged memory data and decided to release her.

[SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETED. NO ERRORS DETECTED.]

Jerking to a halt, C2 collapsed as the virus released her from its grip.

She blinked and stood back up as she watched Vile roll onto his back while the scent of burning flesh offended her olfactory sensors, what remained of several dozen bodies now laid strewn about, having been blown clear of the now ruined tenant building they'd been seeking refuge in while awaiting evacuation as the flames began to consume to block she'd set ablaze.

"Holy shit…" Vile whispered as C2 backed away, the mud sucking at her feet as she stared in horror at the corpses, spotting several smaller bodies among them.

" _I didn't mean to…"_ She thought as she backed away her thought processes coming to a crashing halt as she gazed upon the results of her actions, even if they weren't even her own. _"I didn't… I didn't…"_

She didn't back up much further before an absolutely _furious_ X bore down on her and sent her _flying_ with a well-placed punch to the jaw, which caused yet further damage to her, the mud sucking at her as she skidded to a halt about twenty feet away and tried to get up, only to find X upon her again.

She grabbed his fist as he tried to pummel her, survival programming straining against her conscience as she resisted the urge to send him flying using her current abilities and make a break for it.

"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT ONLY KILLING SOLDIERS!?" The enraged Reploid screamed at her as he narrowly missed her head with a charged shot from his buster, further damaging her from the shrapnel caused by it blowing the pavement out before she kicked him off and _ran_ without even _attempting_ to defend herself.

Tears streaming down her face the entire way.

* * *

"Vile!" X barked, the other Reploid snapping to, having never seen X this _angry_ before. "Go help Zero and the survivors… She's _mine._ " He snarled.

"G… Got it…" The Violet armored Reploid stuttered as he turned and headed off, wanting to get as far away as possible from X at the moment.

X clenched his fists and took off in pursuit as Vile rushed over to the ruins.

* * *

From above on a half ruined skyscraper, Sigma began to chuckle almost uncontrollably. "So X... You do have a burning anger locked within you... It just needs the right _nudge_ to be unleashed." He said as he pursed his lips in amusement.

* * *

["The Purebloods are holding their ground sir! They're conducting a fighting withdrawal."] Someone reported over comms.

"Right, send in gunships to cover the Viceroy's retreat!" One of the staff officers on the _Prince Lelouch_ ordered.

Euphie frowned as she spotted something. "Hold on! Something's approaching the Viceroy's detachment from behind!" She exclaimed as she pointed at the two dots rapidly closing on Cornelia's position.

"Trucks? Is this Zero's work or…"

["Update from Colonel! He believes incoming units are the Four Holy Swords!"]

"Good Darwin…" One of the staff officers whispered. "Viceroy! You need to withdraw!" He shouted over the radio quickly.

"Where's the 173rd!? Get them on station now!" Another staff officer raged as five new contacts blossomed from the trucks.

["They're still rearming and refueling!"]

"Confirmed! Enemy units are heavily modified Burai types! They appear to be performing on par with our Gloucesters!"

"The Viceroy's guard unit has taken heavy Knightmare losses! Most of the Sutherlands have been destroyed or disabled!"

"Five units are doing all that!?" An officer scoffed in disbelief.

* * *

Gunfire raged through the woods as Britannian infantry exchanged fire with the JLF and Black Knights, footsoldiers ducking behind rocks, trees, bushes and whatever else they could use for cover as rounds tore through the air all around them.

Nobody could even see the enemy, only firing at the general direction their tracers were coming from.

"Sarge! We're pinned down here!" A Britannian trooper stated to his platoon Sergeant as the Reploid glanced over at the human.

"Just keep your head down and watch out for incoming surprises! Smith! Get on the radio and get us air support!"

"Roger!" The radioman replied as he ducked down while the unit grenadier fired off his M203 launcher, with a scream of 'Grenade!' echoing out from somewhere, the unmuffled noise indicating JLF troops, whom were promptly either left badly wounded or outright killed by the 40mm round going off and spraying shrapnel through the trees.

["We're getting cut to shreds! All units fall back! Fall back! Get to the clearing so our air support can get to work!"] An infantry officer ordered over the radio.

["There's no fucking cover there!"] Someone replied.

["Doesn't need to be, birds are hitting anything still in the trees!"]

"You heard him, let's get moving grunts!" The Sergeant ordered as he and his surviving troops rushed for the field.

["Ground forces in sector B-3-12 this is Coppermouth, be advised, air support inbound, danger close."] Someone in an airborne command post radioed as Britannian troops poured out from the trees, some firing back into the woods as the JLF and Black Knights pursued.

"This isn't fucking protocol…" Someone mumbled as they dove into the grass and started shooting back, keeping the enemy pinned down in the trees.

"Yeah well the fucking Black Knights burying half our damn Knightmares, Ride Armors and pretty much all of the heavy Mechaniloids in a mudslide sure as fuck ain't protocol either!" A Reploid shouted as they awaited the coming storm.

A salvo of 70mm rockets slammed into the woods, blowing apart many of the JLF and Black Knights as an AV-1 Cobra roared overhead. Attracting fire from the ground it spun on its axis and began rocketing the forest while firing bursts from its 20mm chaingun, meanwhile its wingman caught the ground troops in a pincering rocket and strafing attack as was standard Britannian VTOL CAS procedure thanks to combat experience with COIN ops in Area 12.

"Woo! Eat some you damn Monkeys!" A Britannian trooper cheered as more VTOLs roared overhead 'dustoff' UV-1s arrived to medevac casualties while more UV-1 and CV-47 troop transports landed, additional Cobras taking up station to deter enemy attack, their 20mm cannons chattering as they tore into the treeline and cut down more JLF elements as the surviving Black Knights withdrew in the confusion, following Zero's standing orders to avoid engagements they couldn't win.

* * *

["The remnants of Charlie and Dog companies of the 293rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion have linked up with elements of the 229th Assault VTOL Battalion."]

["Where's Alpha and Bravo companies?"] Another officer questioned.

["Both have linked up with the 17th Armored after sustaining moderate casualties."]

Colonel sighed as he listened to the chatter. The command structure had virtually collapsed and nobody knew which units were intact, under fire, or had already been wiped out or forced to scatter.

Iris shouted orders into her headset mic as she and the other staff officers on the _Princess Nunnally_ continued coordinating with the _Prince Lelouch_ to attempt to salvage the situation.

"What's the ETA on the fast movers?" He inquired.

"Another eight minutes sir!"

Colonel closed his eyes and sighed. "I suppose that'll have to do…" He muttered as he watched Cornelia's IFF move away from Todoh and the Four Holy swords, whom had pinned down roughly a third of her Royal Guard, the remaining third were also being pinned down, with the difference being that they were with Darlton on the _other_ side of the landslide.

The missing third had been presumed wiped out with Alex in the landslide.

Indeed, the chatter he was hearing indicated that everything was going down shit-creek without a paddle, straight towards a raging waterfall.

He could only hope the air support would at least let them even the odds.

* * *

Onboard the _Prince Lelouch_ Euphie agonized about her decisions as her staff officers threw suggestion after suggestion at her.

"Send in the Guard Detachment surrounding the G-1!" One of them suggested.

Euphie shook her head. "No, we can't."

"But Lord Guilford and his squad are totally pinned down!"

"That may be, but our detachment consists of security model Glasgows and a handful of Sutherlands backed by obsolete M47 Patton tanks, they wouldn't stand a _chance_ in an offensive engagement with the Holy Swords. In addition, it would leave our both our command centers and the support units wide open to a counterattack with all our reserve forces committed already!"

"We must do something though! Viceroy Cornelia's life is at stake! We could move the G-1 itself in!"

Euphie clenched her fists. "The G-1 is the last line of defense for the support forces, while the medical land cruisers can move the field hospital can't pack up so easily and they're treating a large number of badly wounded soldiers a _nd_ civilians at the moment, making it even more difficult to relocate. Besides the Viceroy left _strict_ orders only to move it if a withdrawal was necessary. That's why… I just can't…" She stammered before a screen opened up on the tactical table.

Suzaku gazed sternly into her eyes from the cockpit of the Lancelot, flanked by Lloyd and Cecile.

The 'Earl of Pudding' leaned into the camera, Suzaku not even flinching as the older man brushed past him, a likely indication he was used to Lloyd's behavior by now. ["Why hello there! ASEEC Area 11 detachment reporting for duty!"] He chimed rather smarmily for the likings of the staff officers.

"Why you insolent…!" One of them hissed under his breath.

"You're irregulars, barring a direct order from higher command your assignment is to keep silent and _observe_!" Another staff officer barked.

["Uh, yes sir normally we would… But…"] Cecile began in an attempt to defuse the situation.

And then Lloyd opened his mouth again.

["But all of this waiting around is boring."] Lloyd remarked as Suzaku glanced at him, keeping his face even whilst his eyes betrayed his annoyance with Lloyd for being so flippant at such a delicate time.

["Sub-viceroy Euphemia."] Suzaku addressed her. ["I beseech you, please order us into the battle."]

"How transparent, you just want the glory of rescuing the Viceroy all to yourself!" One of the staff officers snarled before a second channel opened up and everyone immediately froze.

[ **="Quit wasting time Major, we can ill-afford the Viceroy being captured by Zero or the JLF because you imbeciles waste time waxing poetic about glory and honor while our enemies rout your troops."=** ] Executrix Liath intoned menacingly, the sound of jet engines audible from her feed.

Euphie however kept her eyes on Suzaku while the officers sweated nervously.

"With all due respect your Eminence, we've deployed the vast bulk of our fielded forces into combat, one unit can't change things like that! Especially with an _Eleven_ pilot!"

[ **="A single man or unit in the wrong or right place at the right time can decide the course of battles or even history as they see fit. Or have you forgotten Zero's first showing in Shinjuku? Bismarck Waldstein during the Battle of Anchorage in the Britannio-Soviet war? The HIMS** _ **Nautilus**_ **during the Battle of Midway in the First Pacific War? Or perhaps Todoh's own 'miracle' at Itsukushima?"=** ] Liath questioned them, the officers keeping their mouths shut.

Unlike Clovis, Liath and Cornelia were presences that _demanded_ respect... And for the former, more than a bit of fear as well.

["See? There's no harm in trying, if anything Lancelot may be able to divert enemy forces away from the Viceroy to deal with it, thus letting your men swoop in to 'save the day'. And since it's just one unit, it won't look bad for _you_ if we lose right?"] Lloyd added.

Suzaku mouthed _Euphie_ , pleading to be sent out to save Cornelia if nobody else could do so.

"Yes, I understand. Please do it."

["We've got it!"] Lloyd exclaimed as he began to back out of the Lancelot's cockpit.

["Thank you very much."] Cecile added as Suzaku locked eyes with Euphie again.

["Right! I won't fail you your highness!"]

Liath cocked her head, mask glinting in the low light as her visor stared at Euphemia. [ **="My troops and I are about five minutes out from there, we'll be airdropping in following the first wave of airstrikes"=** ]

"Very well then your eminence, good hunting." Euphie replied to the Executrix whom simply nodded before her connection cut.

* * *

Todoh backed away from Guilford's Gloucester, frowning as sweat rolled down his brow. "Damn… He's better than I gave him credit for, Cornelia's Royal Guards are no slouches…" He mumbled as he watched the enemy Knightmare throw a cylindrical object.

A chaos mine.

"Scatter!" He ordered as the Burai-Kais of the Four Holy Swords spread out, dodging the storm of shrapnel.

["Lieutenant Colonel? What about Cornelia?"] Asahina questioned as they began to set up for their next run.

"If Zero's the kind of man I think he is, then he's moving into position to capture her as we speak, we just have to trust him and keep our mutual enemy from interfering." Todoh replied, understanding Zero's plan.

["Understood!"]

* * *

"What? Zero's on the move?" Guilford questioned Jeremiah over a secure line.

["That's right, we'll head over there and back you up."] Gottwald replied.

"Nevermind that now, just track Zero!" Guilford ordered as he clashed his EM lance against Todoh's revolving blade sword yet again.

["Yes, my lord… This is his predicted course based on the last few sightings we've had."] Jeremiah replied as a projected image of the path Zero and his remaining escorts were taking was laid out on Guilford's viewscreen.

Guilford's pupils shrunk to pinpricks as he noted the terrain around the path they were taking.

The fallback zone at point nine Cornelia was heading to.

"The Princess was trying to entrap Todoh… But Zero's anticipated that and now…" Sweat rolled down his forehead as he realized what was going on.

He switched channels in a hurry. "PRINCESS CORNELIA!" He shouted.

* * *

"I got the message Guilford…" She replied in resignation as her Gloucester stared down the Guren Mark Two.

* * *

C2 stumbled into an alley as a volley of buster shots spattered against a wall behind her courtesy of X, leaving brick and mortar sizzling as he rounded the corner after her.

She slipped on debris, not checking where she was going either visually or with her admittedly damaged terrain warning sensors and soon the Maverick Hunter was upon her.

C2's view of the ground turned into one of the sky as X rolled her over and slammed a fist into the databus in her solar plexus, hard, causing several error messages to appear in her field of view.

The next punch slammed straight into her face, shattering part of her visor and blinding her left eye as the array of micro-camera lenses that composed it were shattered.

"Please… Stop…" She croaked as X socked her right in the chin, temporarily jamming her jaw and rattling her processor.

The punches continued raining down upon her, shattering her forehead camera, collapsing part of her facial plating over her right check, splitting open the covering on her left bicep.

Warnings continue to splay over her field of view as she finally grabbed X's free hand, the Maverick Hunter snarling as he charged up his buster cannon aimed at her head as C2 wheezed, finding herself unable to move her left arm for some reason as more errors flashed over her field of view, partially obscuring X.

[WARNING. LEFT ARM CONTROL SYSTEM OFFLINE. LEFT BICEP ARTIFICIAL MUSCULATURE DISABLED.]

[INTERNAL COOLANT RUPTURE. SEEK IMMEDIATE REPAIRS.]

[PRIMARY LEFT EYE CAMERA OFFLINE. SWITCHING TO BACKUP.]

[SECONDARY AND TERTIARY LEFT EYE CAMERAS OFFLINE.]

[CRITICAL MALFUNCTION IN ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES IN JAW REGION.]

[PRIMARY POWER SUPPLY LINKAGES FAILING. BACKUP UNIT INACTIVE.]

X glared down at her, feeling nothing but contempt for the Reploid underneath him for outright lying to his face by murdering dozens of civilians, for harming his friend… For…

X lowered his buster as he stared into her eyes and saw tears streaming down her face, the dents and scars mutilating her once proud and clean armor.

The blind eye where he'd shattered her ability to see, all the rends and tears he'd added to her flextanium skin that exposed her endoskeleton and internal wiring.

And then he realized something else.

His own relative lack of damage.

"You didn't even try to fight back…" He whispered in a mix of guilt and horror as he powered down his buster, and with a not insignificant amount of disgust with himself for losing control like that.

He'd beaten the absolute crap out of her and she didn't even _bother_ trying to fight back, nor did he even _notice_ the fact she wasn't retaliating.

She was easily at least his equal in combat but why would she just…

"Why… Why just let me beat you like this…" He hissed under his breath as she craned her neck weakly to look at him.

"Because... I deserve it…" C2 wheezed as her neck servos gave out and her head lolled back, leaving her staring at the sky.

X's eyes widened. "You didn't kill those people of your own volition did you…" He whispered softly.

"Does it matter at this point…? I'm a proper Maverick now either way, on the one hand I'm a murderer, and on the other I'm just as much a victim as they are if I'm actually infected." C2 chuckled morbidly. "To think I had reservations about Zero blowing the reservoir… And then just lose control to _something_ and kill dozens of innocent people… I'm such a damn hypocrite." She murmured, her gaze seeming to focus on the sky rather than X. "If only we could feel pain the same way humans could... Then my suffering would be complete."

"You're delirious…" X whispered, now torn between retiring a dangerous Maverick as was his duty, or doing what was right and trying to find help for someone who was clearly infected by the Maverick Virus and now rendered severely psychologically unstable due to what they'd done.

He was so caught up in the moment that he never noticed the shape behind him before electricity arced over his frame and he slumped to the ground, falling atop C2, whom blinked at the blurry form of her unknown savior before her systems dropped into standby due to the damage she'd sustained.

* * *

Suzaku inserted the Lancelot's activation key and began the startup sequence, the Knightmare's Yggdrasil drive spooling up to full power.

["Advanced weapons system Z-01 Lancelot, utilize sand panels to climb the liquefied slope at max combat speed and rescue the viceroy, failing that you are to lure away as many hostile units as possible to enable friendly troops to do so."] Cecile read out as Suzaku clenched the control sticks of the Lancelot.

"Yes, my lord." He acknowledged as he dropped the Lancelot into a ready stance.

["Suzaku, there's one thing I want to ask you."] Lloyd began as they prepped for deployment.

"What's that?"

["More than anything, you hate when people die… Yet you joined the _military_ , in a _combat_ role no less, where the intended purpose is to train you to _kill_ others. Why is that?"]

"I joined the military to stop people from dying." He replied matter-of-factly.

["Well then it appears you chose the wrong service MOS, because that contradiction will get you killed someday."] Lloyd noted before Cecile grabbed him by the collar. ["Eugghah! Sorry about that!"] He apologized as she tossed him out of his seat quite roughly.

The Yggdrasil drive reached optimal RPM for ME boost as Suzaku counted down mentally. "Lancelot… Now launching."

The Z-01 Lancelot roared away from the ASEEC trailer and onto the mud slope just as the first of the Britannian strike planes began to appear on the horizon from the direction of the settlement.

* * *

["CORNELIA!"] Kallen shouted as she lunged forwards at her Gloucester, the Second Princess charging her down with her lance.

["LOWBORN SCUM!"] The Viceroy snarled as she used her slash harkens to evade Kallen's counterstrike by partially ascending the rock wall of the trench.

["That's not some customized unit… Is this one of those Seventh Gens that Liath told us about…?!"] She whispered before her Knightmare blared an alarm and she narrowly evaded a volley of 25mm rifle fire as it slammed into the rock above her, the Gloucester descending back into the trench as Lelouch smugly activated his Burai's external speaker.

["Can you hear me, Cornelia?"] He inquired as her Frame knelt on the trench floor, pincered between the three Burais above and behind and the Guren in front of her. ["This is _checkmate_."] Lelouch remarked.

["Zero!"]

["Yes, should we celebrate our _reunion_?"] He taunted as he continued. ["Of course, you'll have to surrender to us first, and after that, I have a few _questions_ I wish to ask you."]

["And in case you're wondering, your reinforcements _won't_ get here in time. I _win_."] He observed smugly.

["You're a fool Zero."] Cornelia replied as she locked her gaze on the Guren. ["This one… If I take out this one I'm _free_ and _clear_."] She exclaimed as she aimed her assault rifle at Kallen's machine and opened fire, only to watch in horror as it hopped and leapt around her bullets in ways she'd never seen a Knightmare move before.

Then she remembered that she _had_ seen Knightmares move like that. The Lancelot types.

 _"It is a Seventh Gen!"_ Cornelia realized in horror.

Her resolving hardening she fired a slash harken at the other frame, only for Kallen to intercept with the Guren's twin-fork knife and deflect it.

Cornelia smirked and lunged forward with her EM-lance. ["You've got some moves!"] She conceded as the Guren grasped the Lance's head in its right hand.

Kallen fired the radiant wave surger, the lance and the arm it was attached to beginning to bubble and melt under its sheer output.

Cornelia's eyes widened and she immediately ejected the arm that held the lance as Kallen tossed the molten appendage away, where it sizzled and slowly flowed into a pool of tungsten slag as it began to cool, ejecting the spent cartridge from the wave surger arm in the process.

A burst of rifle fire knocked out her frame's left arm and destroyed her assault rifle.

["Coward! Attacking only after your lackey has done the bulk of the work for you!"] She hissed.

["Really? And your own attack methods don't show signs of cowardice as well?"] Lelouch questioned in kind.

* * *

Jeremiah bashed away Chiba's Burai-Kai as he fell into the circle with the Royal Guard while Viletta and the others ejected or died in their frames. ["Damnit! We're cut off!"] He snarled as he damaged Urabe's unit with a well placed volley of rifle fire, forcing him to back off.

["Lieutenant Colonel, we've wiped out all but one of the Enemy's reinforcements!"] Senba reported as the Swords re-grouped.

["Right. Switch to spinning life or death formation!"] Todoh ordered.

["Yes sir!"] The swords responded in unison as they encircled Jeremiah and the Royal Guard.

" _If this goes on… Princess Cornelia'll…"_

["Guilford…"] His Princess's voice issued from his radio.

["Guilford… My Knight, you and Darlton protect Euphie…"]

"Your Highness!?"

["I won't surrender…"] She stated grimly. ["As an Imperial Princess, I'll fight to the last."]

* * *

Lelouch huffed inside his frame. "She's so predictable." He muttered derisively.

As Cornelia charged at the Guren. A massive streak of dust ripped through the terrain, blinding those present as the Lancelot burst out of where part of the trench wall had once been.

" _What!? Reinforcements!? But how!?"_ Lelouch thought, utterly shocked by the display of raw firepower on the part of the Lancelot.

* * *

Inside the ASEEC trailer, a bruised and battered Lloyd smirked.

"Oh my!" Cecile whispered.

"As reckless as ever 'eh? He's used the VARIS on high output to clear the obstacles in his path, allowing him to reach the Viceroy in record time! And it looks like the gunship rescue has arrived as well." He noted as dozens of dots bearing the IFF markings of the air wings summoned by Colonel and the airlifters flying in the 501st's two on hand companies entered the airspace. "Oh the data we'll get with _two_ Lancelots on the field!" He chirped happily, as if that was all which mattered.

* * *

The Lancelot jumped into the air and landed next to Cornelia's Gloucester. ["Viceroy! Are you alright?"] Suzaku asked. ["I came here to rescue you."]

["Hey… Isn't that Knightmare…?" Tamaki questioned as he, Zero, and Ohgi regained their bearings.

["Yes… The same one from Shinjuku, Lake Kawaguchi, and the Haneda Airport op."] Ohgi replied.

"Again!? It's him _again_!?" Lelouch snarled, losing control of his temper.

Aiming his command Burai's rifle, he opened fire on the Lancelot, which promptly blocked his attack with the Blaze Luminous. "Q1, destroy that unit _immediately_!" He barked. "It's _interfered_ with our efforts enough!"

["Right!"] Kallen replied a she raced towards the Lancelot. ["Hey **fucker**! Remember me!?"] She snarled as she rushed forwards. ["I've got a bone to pick with you regarding Haneda and Shinjuku!"]

Suzaku fired the VARIS twice at her, only for Kallen to narrowly dodge both shots, given that they weren't intended to kill it was relatively easy for her.

He kicked at the Guren only to watch as the wave surger arm grabbed his Knightmare's sand panel.

Reacting instantly, he ejected the left foot's sand panel as the wave surger activated, Kallen effectively wasting the charge on the add-on unit. Suzaku shoving her Knightmare away when she charged him again.

["You handle that thing, I'll take Zero!"] Cornelia relayed as she charged down the Burais, firing her slash harkens at them while they returned fire.

Suzaku drew an MVS blade as he fired the VARIS again, clipping the Guren's shoulder as Kallen fell back. "Slightly faster than on the data the Executrix provided but it's enough to adjust for…" He mumbled.

* * *

" _No way!? He hit me even in the Guren?!"_ Kallen thought nervously as she charged him. "Nevermind, if I can take him down here!" She grunted as she swatted away the other sand panel as Suzaku used it as an improvised projectile.

The two Knightmares engaged in close combat soon after, tearing across the battlefield in a one on one duel to the finish.

* * *

Todoh began to lunge at Jeremiah, hoping to knock out a weak link to allow his reinforcements to take out the Royal Guards.

And then alarms blared in his frame about incoming fire.

["What!?"]

A hail of gunfire, missiles and bombs tore apart the Burais, Panzer-Hummels, tanks, and Kalinkas that had been moving to reinforce him and badly rattling the Holy Swords and their Burai-Kais.

All but one unit, which attempted to get up, before an MVS blade pierced through the front of the JLF Burai from the cloud of dust and smoke that had been brewed up by the munitions and a black Knightmare leg kicked it off, the Burai tumbling down the hill.

[ **="So these are the vaunted Holy Swords of the JLF."=** ] The _last_ voice Todoh wanted to hear mocked as Executrix Liath's customized black and silver Z-01 Lancelot emerged from the smoke and rubble of the JLF reinforcements, backed by no less than _two dozen_ high-spec optimized Gloucesters painted in the white and blue colors of the 501st, each carrying an assault rifle and a Maser Vibration Sword. [ **="I was expecting something more... Impressive..."=** ]

["Executrix Liath!"] Guilford gasped in awe.

[ **="Now then Colonel Todoh, I'm offering you a chance to surrender. I highly suggest you take it, as I may not be so** _ **lenient**_ **if you wish to struggle."=** ] She purred as A-9 Tempest IIs, F-15 Spitefuls, and F-14 Skyfangs screamed overhead, backed by yet more AV-1 Cobra gunships and UV-1 Iroquois medium utility VTOLs, plus B-66 Destroyer and B-57 Henderson medium bombers.

["The Holy Swords will _never_ give in to the likes of you!"] He spat back at Liath.

[ **="So be it, but mark my words Todoh, _I_ _'ll make_ _you wish you had_."=**] And with that the Lancelot unit 2 leapt towards Todoh, MVS blades drawn.

Todoh swung his revolving blade sword up to meet her and the battle was joined yet again.

Though this time the Holy Swords were on the defensive as the Royal Guard and Jeremiah Gottwald joined the 501st in their attack, combining both quantity _and_ quality in their push as they steadily beat the greatly outnumbered elites of the JLF back away from the mountain.

All the while Todoh had a feeling that the Executrix was just _toying_ with them as she singlehandedly took on the Holy Swords by _herself_ for the most part, letting the others block their attempts to escape or maneuver, Liath easily deflecting his subordinates' strikes at the same time she was parrying his own.

["Is she really the second coming of Marianne the Flash!? None of us can even lay a finger on her Knightmare!"] Senba grunted as his Burai Kai was shoved aside by the Black Lancelot.

Briefly Todoh wondered if he _should've_ taken up her offer of surrender.

* * *

"Rapiers two, three and four follow my lead as we hit the enemy ground assets, five through eight you come in after us and mop up." Rapier Lead ordered as his F-15 Spiteful banked in and began to dive on the JLF armored positions that were encircling of Darlton's remaining troops despite the artillery barrage they were under.

Rapier Lead smirked and pressed the release switch before pulling up from the shallow dive, two of his six wing mounted 500lb SDBs currently pulled up on his multifunction display.

The guided armor piercing glide bombs shrieked down towards the JLF troops below as his wingmen followed suit with their own munitions.

Explosions ripped into the sky as he pulled out and began to set up for another run while AA fire chattered belatedly into the air after them, narrowly missing the distinctive angular shark-mouth intake of his fighter while his ECM spoofed an outdated SAM and caused it to fly off harmlessly into the distance.

"All elements be advised, enemy AA assets are in play."

["Copy that Rapier lead, suppressing."]

He switched off the transmitter and grinned. "I love my damn job."

Then he rolled his fighter in again and began his next run while the A-9s screamed past below, their guns blazing away as hapless JLF armored vehicles, infantry, and Knightmares were torn to shreds by hails of 30mm and 57mm cannon-fire after the initial wave of missiles, rockets and bombs ripped apart numerous armored vehicles beforehand.

* * *

Darlton watched the JLF armored units turn into short lived funeral pyres and wheeled towards the direction of Cornelia's standoff with the Black Knights. "Get me some T-4s, NOW!" He demanded as he watched the tanks of the 12th armored battalion encroach on the enemy anti-armored formation to the west of him via TACNET, thus eliminating a potential, albeit minor, threat to their flank.

* * *

Brenner smirked as his tanks further shelled the positions that Inoue's anti-armor teams had been engaging from while the infantry, APCs, and Sutherlands move to flush them out or destroy them.

* * *

"Fall back! Fall back!" Inoue shouted as she and her surviving troops ran for their lives, the burning wrecks of their APCs filling the air with smoke after having been disabled at their third ambush point by heavy weapons equipped Britannian mechanized infantry, whom were now plinking shots through the trees at them.

But that wasn't her worst fear, it was the fact that at any moment death would rain down from the skies, Zero hadn't managed to acquire enough of the new handheld SAMs that were starting to become in vogue with the major powers to give to all the units and had assumed that a small formation like Inoue's would escape notice if they avoided conflict.

It had worked but the howls of the attack jets passing overhead was a source of constant terror that would haunt her for some time.

For against them she would be but an _ant_ trying to fight an angered _god_.

* * *

Lelouch backed his Burai away from Cornelia as a pair of Black Knights Panzer-Hummels moved to aid him.

["Zero! We'll handle her!"] One of the pilots announced as he and his counterpart opened fire on the armless Gloucester.

"Take her alive!" He ordered. "If she's captured that will break Britannia's morale even more than if she were killed!"

["Roger!"] They reported as they moved to lock Cornelia in place with their slash harkens.

Before they could close the distance both Knightmares suddenly vanished in a cloud of dust, shrapnel, debris, and fire spewing out of the sudden storm of lead.

"What in the!?" Lelouch gasped split-second before a haunting _BRRRRRRT_ echoed over the area as an A-9 Tempest II screamed overhead, the distinctive profile of the aircraft being one of the _absolute last_ things he wished to see at this delicate moment.

Cornelia burst from the smoke and took the left arm clean off his Burai with a slash harken strike.

["Aww crap! The fucking air force is here!?"] Tamaki groaned as he fired at a passing A-9 before screeching out of the way of another strafing run, the 30mm and 57mm rounds tearing up the dirt behind Tamaki, whom very narrowly avoided pissing himself out of raw terror as another _BRRRRRRRT_ rang out.

" _DAMNIT! I didn't anticipate them scrambling so soon!"_ Lelouch grit his teeth as he turned his attention to Kallen and that White Knightmare.

"Q1, we don't have time to play with him anymore! Disable him and fall back!" He barked.

That brief moment of hesitation as Kallen processed Lelouch's new orders was all Suzaku needed, he tossed away the ruined MVS unit and fired his VARIS at the ground between him and the Guren, the blast ripping part of the rock-face clear and sending the Red Knightmare tumbling down the slope until it impacted at the bottom.

Ohgi and Tamaki rushed down to aid her, the former checking on her while Tamaki kept watch.

["Kallen! Are you okay!?"] He asked, noting that the Guren was in dire need of repairs due to the tumble it had taken.

["I'm fine… But…"]

"Ohgi, status report on the Guren." Lelouch demanded as he watched the tide of battle turn against them.

["The right arm is totally trashed, we'll have to use one of the spares Kyoto sent us."] He stated after a brief check.

Lelouch grimaced, this was going to hell faster than he'd anticipated. "Very well then, I'm ordering a general retreat! All remaining Black Knights are to use the closest cleared escape points and meet up at one of the pre-designated areas! This has become a war of attrition that we cannot win!" He declared as his Burai ascended a cliff face to reach higher ground. "And I want a team tasked with finding Q2, she hasn't reported in as scheduled and isn't responding to hails!" He added, noting with some mild worry that C2 _still_ hadn't reported in.

["Roger!"]

* * *

Nearby, Cornelia's Gloucester finally broke down as its pelvic stabilizer finally gave out, the machine falling to its knees as the Lancelot rushed over.

["Viceroy!"]

Cornelia clenched her control sticks as her brow twitched in anger. "Go after Zero, airborne troops will be here to secure my position soon enough.

["But!"]

"My energy fillers are drained and my stabilizer is broken. Just _go_!" She barked in order, annoyed by Kururugi's display of concern at such a critical moment.

["Right!"] He acknowledged as the Lancelot spun faster than she believed possible and leapt into the air to make up the ground Zero had already gained in his escape.

* * *

["Ugh, I'm hating this retreat thing."] Tamaki grumbled as he, Ohgi, and Kallen made their way to the escape point.

So far enemy air power was focused on the JLF due to their greater numbers, and the strike planes and attack VTOLs combined with the artillery were absolutely _massacring_ every single unit caught in the open.

["We gave them a thorough thrashing, but if we kept pushing while their air power was in play..."] Ohgi noted. ["Zero was right, we'd have been ripped apart."]

["Face it, we left the JLF there as bait while we _ran away_."] Tamaki replied somewhat smugly.

Kallen sighed. ["I hate it when you say it like that. But."]

["Yeah, but people aren't just pieces in some chess game. Zero wouldn't think like that, if he did he'd have used us as pawns to cover his own escape just like how we're using the JLF. I don't believe he'd do that."] Ohgi stated. ["His rage is real, he hates Britannia as much as we do. And I think a person who knows rage, also knows sorrow."]

* * *

And he was correct, for at that moment the Lancelot was tearing into Zero's Burai, knocking off the right forearm with a slash harken strike before following up with a VARIS shot that destroyed the left knee joint of the Burai.

Lelouch quickly put on his mask as he ejected from the ruined Knightmare, extricating himself from the cockpit pod after it crashed against a dirt mound to find the Lancelot staring him down, standing on the backrest of his opened cockpit chair.

" _Z-01… Lancelot… So that's what you're called…"_ He thought as he eyed the markings on the Knightmare, barely holding his composure.

It was just like Saitama all over again.

* * *

Inside the Lancelot, Suzaku tapped his headset. "ASEEC dispatch trailer, this is Lancelot. I've cornered Zero. Moving in for capture." He reported.

" _Zero I owe you… I know that. You've saved a lot of people, and I know there are lots of Elevens and even some Britannians and Reploids supporting you from the shadows. However your methods, here, at Haneda, when you rescued me… They're just…"_ He thought as he stared down the masked man. _"So very wrong…"_

With that last thought he aimed the VARIS at Zero, admittedly it was overkill but Lancelot didn't have a built-in machine gun turret mostly because Lloyd viewed it as unnecessary weight.

* * *

For his part Lelouch stood there, frozen as he tried to think of a way out, he knew that the Britannians wanted him alive, but he couldn't risk the chance that kill would supersede capture if he tried to escape.

And that's when he noticed _her_.

* * *

Suzaku's eyes widened. _"A Black Knight!? What're they doing here."_ He thought as N.N. walked into the shallow trench that Zero's cockpit pod had dug. He couldn't understand why they were unarmed and he turned the VARIS onto her.

* * *

"Sorry but I can't let you hurt him." She stated as she walked over to the Lancelot and touched its leg, the Knightmare's arm falling limp to its side as Lelouch stared in bewilderment.

="N.N.!? What're you doing here!?"= Zero demanded of her. ="You can't seriously be challenging a _Knightmare_!"=

"It's a big problem for me if you die, I've never really done this before, let alone through indirect contact but It's worth a try." She replied cryptically as the mark of the collective unconscious on her forehead began to glow.

" _Done what before?"_ Lelouch thought as he walked over after hopping down from his perch.

* * *

Inside the Lancelot, Suzaku was suddenly found himself taking a leave of his senses, as images he didn't understand flashed before him, two planets looming directly next to eachother, one metal, the other… Something he couldn't recognize.

A stone marked with a strangle symbol, dozens, _hundreds_ of people with unusual facial markings standing as if at prayer, all dressed in the same robes.

And hanging serenely in space, Jupiter, which soon rapidly zoomed towards him as the famous great red spot glowed and seemingly opened to reveal a figure, a figure that Suzaku hadn't seen in seven years, one whose identity became clear as Genbu Kururugi turned to face his son.

" _Father!"_ Suzaku thought/spoke as Genbu glared at him. _"You're_ dead _, how… How can you be standing here!"_ He asked as a broken clock ticked and tocked in the background of the white space.

Turning fully, Genbu began to walk slowly towards his son. _"No… I didn't mean to! No I! I just!"_

Genbu ignored Suzaku's pleas as he continued walking towards him.

* * *

="Hey, what're you doing to him, is this a power like Geass?"= Zero inquired as he walked over to N.N. but got no response from the immortal.

"I'm just mentally feeding him some shock images, I can't tell what he's seeing though. Anyway you've got time to get away now." She replied after a moment, finally acknowledging him.

="What about you?"= He asked, concerned that she may be captured.

"I can't move yet, if I break free too soon he'll come after you again. So you go first." N.N. told him.

="Don't be foolish. I can't keep owing you favors."= Zero replied as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

And then he realized his mistake almost immediately as he felt _something_ intrude on his mind.

"No! You **idiot**! You've made a circuit!" N.N. cried out before she began to shake and spasm as _both_ Lelouch's and Suzaku's minds were linked with hers.

* * *

Todoh backed away as Executrix Liath lunged at him again. ["Colonel! We need to withdraw!"] Chiba urged as she barely dodged a VARIS shot from Liath's Lancelot unit.

"I'm aware of that, but we can't get an opening!" He replied heatedly as the Black Lancelot began to lunge at him again to carve off his Burai's remaining arm, and then stopped suddenly and without warning.

"What the…" He mumbled as the Royal Guard, the Purist Sutherland, and the 501st halted as well, confused by Liath's change in behavior as Lancelot Unit 2 began to swing wildly at its surroundings and fire its VARIS at random, nearly clipping the Holy Swords in _addition_ to her its own side.

["Colonel, what's going on!?"] Urabe asked as his unit stopped next to Todoh's, knocking him out of his stupor as a result.

"It doesn't matter, deploy smoke grenades and retreat while they're occupied! General Katase and those of our forces who still can have already escaped so there's no need to stay here!" Todoh ordered.

["Yes sir!"] The Swords acknowledged and then all five Burai-Kais vanished into the artificial fog they had generated as their smoke grenades detonated around them.

* * *

Lelouch found himself assaulted by competing images. An angry mob of peasants stoning a church marked with the same symbol as he'd noticed in his Geass, a strange lab lined with fluid filled tanks filled with female human bodies while researchers drained tank after tank, marking them down as failures.

" _What, this is different."_

A nun with the same Geass-related mark on her forehead that N.N. had. Wires hooked up to some kind of machine that also bore the same mark.

Surprisingly enough he saw the entrance to the Kururugi shrine. Which was soon replaced by a distant view of the Aries Villa.

" _That's!"_

"S… Stop! Please!" Two voices, one N.N.'s the other he didn't immediately recognize, pleaded in unison as Lelouch saw a green haired girl, the same one he'd seen before in what he originally assumed were hallucinations, sitting nude in clear pond, before that image was overlaid with the same tanks he'd seen earlier, all filled with girls identical to N.N.

"Stay. Out. Of. My. Mind!" The voices cried out.

More images flashed before his mind's eye, cannons firing on medieval battlefield, men leaping out of trenches with bayonets fixed to their muskets, a young girl with a Geass in her left eye crying as peasants screamed and ran for their lives, soldiers with their weapons leveled in a bayonet charge, flames licking at the girl as she gazed in horror at the chaos and death that she'd unleashed upon those around her.

Those images were overlaid by horrific and gory tests, flames, gas, poison, electricity, bullets, tank shells, blades, explosions, crushing pressure or lack thereof, starvation, dehydration, various types of vehicular manslaughter, and so forth.

" _What am I witnessing!?"_

"Stop it… Mind now…" N.N. muttered weakly as she began to slump, clutching at her heart as tears rolled down her face. "You're unraveling me…"

Several more images assaulted both Lelouch. Marianne vi Britannia standing at the top of a staircase, Genbu Kururugi in a suit, staring at someone intently.

" _AAAAGH! I HAD TO DO IT!"_ A voice screamed in dismay as Lelouch suddenly found himself confronted by Suzaku, lying on the ground and crying.

" _No… It can't be…"_

His friend was replaced by the mark again, this time flickering like a bad or very old animation as its lines wobbled all over the place.

Voices, minds crying out in anguish as stumbling bodies marched across a white void.

Horrific manifestations that would drive men insane growing ever larger as they screamed into his very existence.

A clock without hands, imagery from inside a church. Cities, nations, all _burning_ as the world **ended** in a blazing hellfire while humans tore into eachother like rabid animals.

And then a brilliant light.

A reprieve.

Hope.

" ** _B̴Ę̶ ̴̴̵W͏̧͠AR͜͜Ý͏ ̴Y̕O͠U̧͟͢N̷G̛͢ ͡Ò͢N͜E̕̕͠,̵́͝ L͡E̸S̨̡͘T ̢͡TH̡̀E̢E͏̶ ͏͢M̛̀A̶̛K̕͡E͏̢ ͏T̕͘͠H̶̨E͡ ̵̷SA̸͝͠M̷̕E M̷̧̀I͏S͘͡͡T̵̢́A̛K͘͢E͘͡S̵̢̧ ͞͡A̵͜S̀͟ BE͞FÒR̸̢E͘.̛_** " An ominous tone warned in Lelouch's mind.

And then he heard Suzaku scream again.

* * *

N.N.'s eyes shot back open as the Lancelot jerked free of her hand and began firing its VARIS wildly in all directions, dirt and rubble flying as the blasts impacted the surroundings.

Inside the cockpit Suzaku kept screaming.

Lelouch jerked back in shock as he watched the Lancelot go berserk.

="What's happening to him!?"=

"Idiot! Get away! Now!" N.N. snarled as a jagged piece of rubble embedded itself in her gut.

="N.N.!"= Zero shouted.

More explosions ripped into the air as the Lancelot kept firing. Trees, dirt, and rock splintering before the power of the VARIS.

N.N. fell back into Lelouch as a blast went off directly in front of her and both were obscured by dust and smoke.

* * *

"Stay with the Executrix and keep your distance! I'll get the Viceroy!" Guilford ordered as he rushed over to Cornelia. "Viceory! I'm coming!"

["Guilford, relay this to all remaining forces, withdraw at once under air and artillery cover…"] An exhausted Cornelia told him.

"But your highness! We have them on the run!"

["To press the attack now when our troops are exhausted and at the breaking point is foolish in the extreme… There's no reason to expend any more lives… I'm fairly certain _nobody_ actually won this one."] She replied, her lack of energy seeping further into her tone. ["Stay in formation and fall back cautiously."]

"As you wish… I'll have security and search and rescue units brought up once this is over to find the dead, or anyone left alive…"

["Good man…"]

* * *

At the rendezvous point the remaining Black Knights cheered for their ability to stand against Britannia on the battlefield, but they also mourned the deaths of over **eighty** of their comrades, nearly half of _both_ companies had been wiped out in the fighting. With another forty or so wounded, mostly due to shrapnel from bombs, rockets, grenades or artillery.

The only reason they _could_ cheer in light of this was because the Britannians and JLF suffered _far_ worse losses in comparison.

"Ya see! Britannia had it's hands full just dealing with the Liberation Front after we were done with them!" Tamaki stated confidently.

Ohgi sighed as he felt the crash from his adrenaline rush set in. "Yeah, that gave us the chance we needed to escape, I wouldn't have wanted to deal with their air support on our lonesome."

Kallen glanced over the clearing as Izumi's Burai rolled over to them. "Hey, where's Zero? You seen him Izumi?"

Izumi shook his head. "I thought he was with you?" The former leader of the Yamato Alliance replied.

"Well I can't raise his Burai on comms. You don't think he's been captured do you?" Kallen asked, worried about their leader as Ohgi and Tamaki frowned.

"What about Q2…?" Ohgi asked.

"Can't raise her either…" Kallen said in resignation.

There was a gasp and the chatter from the troops picked up as a Black, Gold, and Violet Reploid marched into the 'camp' of the Black Knights, flanked by a rather diminutive Reploid with a large Russian styled hat.

Held in a bridal carry in the Black Reploid's arms laid the shattered and broken form of C2.

Ohgi and Kallen paled. "Well that answers that question…" Tamaki muttered in shock.

Dozens of guns were pointed at them as Izumi and the other former Yamato Alliance members recognized the profile of the taller Reploid.

"Hold your fire! He saved us in Saitama!" Izumi shouted, causing the Black Knights to lower their guns in confusion.

Kallen for her part couldn't take her eyes off of the battered and broken C2.

" _What happened to her…?"_ The Redhead thought nervously.

* * *

Inside a cave near the rendezvous point, Lelouch frowned as he observed an unconscious N.N., having stripped her down to tend to her wounds only to find her having mostly healed, and laid his cloak out over her as a blanket.

" _This girl just isn't human. She was shot in the head in Shinjuku but was up again no later than at least a day afterwards. Yet she hasn't reawakened here despite the less severe injury, which means the mental stress of whatever happened earlier must've taken its toll on her."_ He noted clinically.

" _And then there's Suzaku…"_ He thought, the fact that he'd seen his friend as part of the 'circuit' N.N. mentioned couldn't be coincidence, yet he just couldn't bring himself to believe that Suzaku of all people was the pilot of the White Knightmare, Lancelot.

Not without actual proof anyways, a mental image and a single attack move were not indicators of it being him and could easily just be coincidence.

He checked her forehead. _"From what little I can tell her vital signs are at normal human levels… I better analyze a blood sample later and photograph the wounds for now."_

He heard her stir, the girl mumbling in her sleep.

Leaning in, Lelouch heard her whisper a simple, two syllable word.

 _Nemo_.

"Nemo… Latin for nobody…" He whispered as he leaned back. If those tanks were indeed from her memories and not whoever that other girl was, then she was an artificial human in the first place, a clone. Which gave Lelouch pause, as human cloning was incredibly risky to perform even with modern medical technology, hence why it was heavily restricted by every nation on the planet.

Fitting he supposed. The million sterling question was _who_ created her.

There was a smile on her face. "You finally called me… By my real name…" She whispered happily.

He doubted it was directed at him given that she was asleep.

He sat down and contemplated this revelation.

* * *

Aboard the _Prince Lelouch_ Cornelia sighed as she read over the initial report. "So Zero escaped again, as did the bulk of the JLF's leadership. And what's worse, Kururugi and Liath both went berserk in their units…" She mumbled. "If it had been just one unit I would've assumed it had been an issue with the pilot but with both Lancelots having gone berserk near simultaneously I can't just chalk it up to chance, I've sent the data to my elder brother with a note telling him to have ASEEC further reduce the amount of Sakuradite in the frames of all further Lancelot series units until we can determine the cause since we have no idea about the effect energized Sakuradite has on humans over long-term exposure." She ordered.

Darlton and Guilford nodded, as did Colonel over his holographic projection.

"We had to wait until their energy fillers drained to even approach, they just kept firing and swinging their MVS units wildly." Guilford added to the report. "Gottwald got lucky that Liath didn't _kill_ him in her out of control state." He noted with some mild disappointment, earning him a warning glare from Colonel and Cornelia.

"The Special Corps reports that Kururugi is in their care, while the 501st has remained mum about the Executrix beyond saying that she is recovering" Darlton noted.

"I see… I suppose I better prepare for the inquiry into how a routine operation turned into such an unmitigated disaster."

* * *

X shot up inside a repair facility aboard one of the Britannian landcruisers.

"Easy there chief, you're alright." A technician told him as the Reploid gathered his bearings.

"What happened…" X mumbled as he glanced around, spotting Zero and Vile undergoing minor repairs nearby.

"Aboard the HIMLS _Rosecrans_." The tech told him as he walked off. "I'm off to deal with some other casualties, you lot chitchat while I do so."

X glanced over at Zero. "So... What did happen...?"

"You tell me, Vile found you face down in an alley…" Zero said as he glanced over at X, the latter finally noticing Iris standing near Zero.

"I think I got jumped… Not sure by who…" X admitted after a moment.

"Whatever the case, little miss green hair was gone when Repliforce picked you up." Vile added, sounding disappointed. "A shame because based on the debris they found, you sure did a number on her."

X shook his head and ignored Vile, as his self-loathing disgust came back to the fore, remembering that his ethics simulations had been intended to drive such behaviors out of him, he'd nearly lost control of himself out of anger, something Doctor Light had warned him about given that unlike his elder brother, Rock, he had no such restraints on him to prevent him from attacking others in a rage, especially when dealing with humans. "Then whoever knocked me out took her, she was in no condition to even consider moving when I was knocked out…"

"You went berserk X, what the heck happened?" Zero inquired, Iris and X looking away.

"I... Lost it after the gas main exploded and caught you and those civilians in the blast... But, based on her reactions to me attacking her, I think the Reploid that's allied with Zero is infected…" He finally stated. "She just let me beat her to hell when I caught up… Didn't even try fighting back. Only said she deserved it and just kept crying..."

Even Vile didn't have a witty comment for that. "That's just screwed up…" The violet-armored hunter said after a few moments, crossing his arms across his chest in mild frustration. "She didn't seem like the type to just _let_ that happen to her based on our past encounters."

"Yeah… And that's got me concerned. She didn't show any sign of this beforehand aside from Haneda, although I'm tempted to believe _that_ was because her copy chip picked up some of _your_ personality traits in the process Vile." X said as Vile glowered off to the side before continuing. "Which begs the question... Is this a recent thing? Has the Maverick Virus evolved to act only intermittently in some cases… Or has someone _modified_ it to do so..." He wondered aloud.

None of the Reploids said anything, preferring not to dwell on such disturbing thoughts.

Even Vile kept his mouth shut.

* * *

Lelouch tossed the bloodstained rag into the water, watching it become clean and pure again. Or about as much as he supposed it could.

"I cleaned the wounds as best as I could." He told N.N. as she sat up.

"That wasn't necessary." She told him rather irately.

"Apparently not." He admitted as he stood there with his arms crossed.

She glared at him. "I don't need you to protect me. Your pride always gets in the way at the most ridiculous moments."

He turned to look at her with a smirk on his face. "But then I learned something from it. Nemo. That's your name isn't it?"

Her red eyes widened in shock. "How…"

"You were talking in your sleep."

"You have a bad habit of eavesdropping." She noted, glaring at him.

He turned away. "Well it's a good name. A lot more human than N.N."

"That's a joke, as if I want to be more _human_." She scoffed. "After all… I… I…"

He eyed her as she clutched the cloak close to her chest. "I was _created_ as an experiment, to see if an artificial method for creating new Geass contracts could be devised… Or failing that to serve as what basically amounts as a relay for someone else to do so." She mumbled as her eyes began to water. "So what's the use of it all, I exist solely to perform a role somebody else _cannot_ or _will not_ perform themselves… What use does a name have to someone like that?" She asked as tears began to roll down her face.

" _I see… That explains why you were so upset when I was talking about my life not being my own prior to Saitama, and why you always wear only stolen clothing, because you feel like you're living someone else's life_ for _them."_ He observed. "Then It's a good time to say this then. Yes, you saved me today. You did that before, and gave me Geass. _You_ , and nobody else, did that. So I'll only say this once. Thank you."

N.N. stared at him in shock, tears continuing to run down her face.

"As another favor, I ask for you to reject that outlook on life, bear your name and seize your life as your own, you may be artificial in body, but what makes you an individual can never be replicated. Live not as the entity called N.N. but as the person known as Nemo. Because in the end, although outside factors shape our growth, we are ultimately made by ourselves." He said as he clasped his hands at the small of his back.

There was a smile on her face as she held the cloak close to her and closed her eyes. "Nobody has ever thanked me before… Let alone treated me as anything more than a designation… Well then, can you show me your appreciation, say it again… Say my name…" She asked as she opened her eyes.

He turned to look at her. "I'll say it as many times as you want me to… Just live by that name, become your own you as I have asked." He replied.

Nemo nodded. "I will… I will…" She said happily.

"Very well then, Nemo."

She frowned.

"How was that?"

"It was bad, it was completely bad, it wasn't tender and there was no honesty or sympathy in it." She huffed.

Lelouch smiled softly at her. "Well I'm used to pronouncing it Nee-moh, not Neh-mo."

"That's no excuse… You still spoke it oddly and it was cold."

He sighed in exasperation. "You're a picky girl you know that…?"

"Exactly, that's why I went by the name N.N.."

"And yet you're willing to change that… Perhaps you're not as picky as you think you are?"

* * *

In Narita-2, a semi-truck rolled through one of the few cleared streets as the Code R team vacated the site with their four working testbed prototypes.

And then a man in a Britannian Knightmare pilot suit hobbled out of an alley in front of them.

"What the!? Another soldier?!" One of the men grumbled as they stopped, the man falling to his knees in front of the truck. "Just our luck we'd find seemingly everyone _except_ Joseph."

"No wonder our Battalions fell apart, everyone in charge got scattered by the landslide or killed, and the idiots they've got in Area 11 couldn't maintain any form of local initiative."

The driver honked the horn at the man as he turned to look at the semi.

"I swear… I wasn't defeated by the leaves… Ze… Zeroooo…" Kewell mumbled deliriously as he slumped over to the ground, blood still caked on his face from where part of his left eye had ruptured due to the wave surger pulse.

The men in the cab stared at him as there was a thump from the trailer and then a Sigma-type Reploid in a Britannian armor pattern marched past them.

"Colonel Madd! What're you doing?!"

The Reploid looked at him and grinned. "It's simple… Acquiring another _test_ _subject_ for Code R's cybernetics program." He stated as he hauled Kewell up over his shoulder and carried him into the back of the truck. "After all this man _is_ listed as KIA."

None of the researchers said anything as the truck continued onwards shortly thereafter.

* * *

The Guren's hatch opened as Kallen reached the location Zero called her from, the girl hopping down and taking out her pistol as she rushed inside after sweeping the area.

* * *

Zero pocketed his phone as he heard Kallen's footsteps echo through the cave. ="Looks like our ride's here."=

It was a short time before Kallen appeared out of the darkness with a flashlight, even though the cave boasted enough natural light thanks to the cracks that had broken in the stone following the slide to see more than just outlines.

"Zero, are you okay!? The others went on ahead and… Who's that?" She asked warily as she spotted another figure behind him.

="You needn't worry, she's a _very_ important friend of mine."= He replied as Nemo turned to look at Zero, both her and Kallen gasping under their breath.

="Nemo, I don't know why coal or oil are black… But when subjected to the right forces after being strained of its impurities the former can become a shimmering Diamond, while the latter can shine with all the colors of the rainbow when subjected to the right conditions. I don't hate either of them."= He said as he turned to face her.

"I see…" She replied finally after a brief pause.

And then they left the cave without another word.

* * *

 **September 15, 2017 ATB.**

 **Area between Narita Range and Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

It was several more hours before the Guren caught up with the others and deposited Zero and Nemo into a warehouse in a disused industrial park that the Black Knights were staging out of for the trek back, Kallen thanking providence that she'd replaced her energy filler beforehand.

Lelouch on the other hand noted that the warehouse was loaded with Reploid parts. High-end ones at that.

 _"Hmm... Is this related to that heist in Australia?"_ He wondered, but stayed his tongue.

"Zero… We had a bit of a scare while you were gone." Ohgi said as he walked over, disrupting Lelouch's train of thought.

="What kind of scare?"= He asked as Ohgi gestured for him to follow.

"It's best you see for yourself." Ohgi replied grimly as Zero and Nemo followed after him, Kallen trailing behind as she remembered that she hadn't informed Zero about Q2.

Lelouch's concern grew when he heard an unfamiliar voice shouting about paint and a pair of Black Knights emerged from a room.

Ohgi let them pass before he knocked on the door. "Doctor Serges… Zero has arrived." He said.

"Ah! Good, good, send him in… I'm afraid he must see the damage for himself." 'Serges' replied.

="You trust him?"= Zero questioned warily.

"Not much, but Izumi and the other ex-Yamato Alliance guys vouched for his 'associate' Forte. Said he saved them in Saitama after they ditched you." Ohgi informed him.

="I see, keep an eye on them, I don't trust them near one of our most powerful assets."= He replied as he walked into the 'operating room' where Serges was working on C2, Ohgi nodding in agreement.

And immediately stopped in shock as he stared at the damage she'd taken based on the parts strewn about on the floor that had been replaced.

"Ah, Zero… You see work quickly. Your friend here will be up and running again in no time… She had a rather nasty encounter with Mega Man X." Serges said as he adjusted the coating on a part of C2's face that had been replaced with new parts.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow beneath his mask at the 'Mega Man' statement, having never heard X being described as that anywhere before, but remained outwardly impassive. ="I see, what happened?"=

"Well she was caught in your little landslide attempting to get some fellow to lead her somewhere, the Hunters showed up and pinned her before they got swept under. I'm not sure what happened afterwards as Forte lost track of them." Serges replied as he inserted a replacement blade antenna into the left ear mounting and tested its movement after securing it into the socket, it appeared to be the final touch he had to make structurally or systems-wise at least.

Nemo glanced over at Zero as the two of them watched as he hopped down from the table. "There you go… A fresh coat of paint and she'll be as good as new… Physically at least."

="I appreciate the effort."= Zero told him, still not trusting his motives in the slightest but at least appreciative that he was doing this without charging the Black Knights.

He nodded. "I took the liberty of installing a new system to help her in future engagements, It's my proprietary 'double gear' system. Now it doesn't use actual gears but it will overclock her movement or firepower abilities when individually or used, or improve overall performance when linked together."

="What's the caveat to such a system?"= Zero inquired, genuinely curious but also cautious.

"It has a built-in limiter to prevent her from destroying her own systems by overusing it, run either mode or both for too long and…" He made a throat cutting gesture to get his point across. "Overheat and melt your internals into a puddle of molten plastic and metal."

Lelouch nodded as he walked over to the bench. ="If you would be so kind, I wish to speak to her in private, Nemo, guard the door and ensure nobody enters."=

"Understood." Nemo replied as she walked over to the door after Serges nodded and exited.

Once they were gone and Lelouch was sure the room wasn't bugged he locked the door and took his mask off before walking over to C2's side and gently turning her on.

The Reploid mumbled as she 'woke up'. "Mrrgh…" She groaned before she shot up, eyes glancing around, unfocused.

"Easy there." Lelouch said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "You were pretty beat up when someone brought you back to us…"

C2 glanced at her armor and stared at her hands as memories began flooding back to her, tears began to roll down her face while Lelouch backed away slightly in concern as she began to shake.

"C2… What happened…"

"Lelouch… I'm a monster…" She replied as she stared directly at him, before breaking down and wailing in despair as he did the only thing he could think of.

He walked over and hugged her with his free arm. "What did you do…" He whispered softly to her.

"I… I… I murdered innocent people…" She choked out after a moment. "I didn't mean to… I… I just wanted some answers… then the slide hit… and I… Lost control, and tossed an APC into a building..." She sputtered.

" _Lost control… Rage or is she actually infected like we theorized…"_ He thought, deciding to keep her away from Nunnally without oversight until he was sure she was no threat to his sister.

"C2… _What_ _happened_. Please tell me… Who were you trying to get answers from that started that…?" He calmly asked her.

"Joseph Fenette… He was part of the team that studied me… I spotted him and tried to get me to lead him to the others…" She managed finally, much to Lelouch's shock as Shirley always spoke of her father as a good man. "But then the Hunters grabbed me… And… And the slide hit… And… And… He's _dead_! I **KILLED** HIM! I KILLED SHIRLEY'S DAD!" She wailed as broke emotionally again, blubbering incoherently about Nunnally and the others as she clutched Lelouch like a scared child holding onto a teddy bear and wept.

Lelouch dropped the Zero mask onto the concrete floor as he processed what she'd just told him before wrapping his free arm around the distraught Reploid.

" _No C2… You didn't kill him…_ I _did, by giving that order…"_ He thought as some tears began to slowly roll down his face while he imagined Shirley, happy-go-lucky Shirley, receiving the news her father had become a mere statistic, collateral damage in his war against Britannia.

And he felt his resolve begin to waver slightly.

* * *

Outside the room. Nemo warded off the latest group of Black Knights who were inquiring into the noise C2 was making, wearing full combat gear to hide her face from them until Lelouch gave her the all clear about revealing herself to his subordinates.

" _Enjoy your 'victory' Lelouch… I hope it was worth the price those around you have paid…"_ She thought morbidly.

* * *

 **AN: Some notes here, Lelouch is starting to get the hint that Suzaku is the Lancelot's pilot, but refuses to believe such a thing without solid facts backing the theory up.**

 **So he suspects something, much in the same way Suzaku suspected him of being Zero since Lelouch's attempt to get his friend to join him after the bridge parade incident, but again, like Suzaku he refuses to believe it until the facts are unavoidably punching him in the face.**

 **That said, Lelouch's emotional state leading up to the next chapter is in flux, while on the one part he's** _ **furious**_ **that C2 got Shirley's dad killed, but on the other hand he knows if the mudslide hadn't been enacted there would've been no risk in the first place.**

 **He also blames the Britannians for the general situation leading up to it all.**

 **Plus Clovis for involving Joseph in Code R in the first place.**

 **He'll never definitively admit to any of his various accusations of blame if confronted though, because it _is_ Lelouch after all, the guy has a self-guilt complex the size of the Tokyo Settlement.**

 **Meanwhile C2's more straightforward about her guilt, she blames herself wholeheartedly for Joseph's death.**

 **Again, CG is pretty psychological at times, but it's far less in your face about it than other series like Evangelion.**

 **The F-15 Spiteful is basically just the F-32 concept (IE the production concept someone made, _not_ the X-32) but with some modifications to 'Britannianize' it, and the A-9 Tempest II is an A-10 with a Hawkeye/Greyhound style tail, _three_ turbofan engines, and a 57mm gun pod on the belly in addition to the 30mm rotary, with low RCS design features to boot.**

 **So basically an A-10 on steroids that had mated with a Mosquito Tsetse as if that was somehow even possible.**

 **The B-57 here is literally a pusedo-stealth F-111 and the B-66 is... Well it's like a mini B-21 mixed with the A-12 Avenger II.**

 **Oh and as for X flipping out... In X1, after Zero sacrificed himself to disable Vile's ride armor, an absolutely _furious_ X got up and regained all of his health in a very Shonen-esque second wind for the _sole purpose_ of beating the shit out of Vile. Raw anger is thus not out of character for him. Will he be upset at himself for losing his cool? Absolutely, but he does have a limit to how much he can take before he flips out just like anyone else does.**

 **And it's part of what makes him the way he is, that ability to feel anger but not fall to it except under extreme circumstances.**

 **Such as when C2 unwittingly kills dozens of civilians and batters Zero with the APC/Gas line explosion combo, she'd already outright stated in their first meeting that she was only targeting Britannian soldiers, and thus something so blatantly hypocritical set X off, only for him to realize later that the situation was more complex than he'd assumed given he's still more than a bit naive.**

 **As for the BK casualties, I needed them to be suitably heavy but not _too_ extreme, given that they suffered over 50% casualties (dead and wounded for those who don't know the term's full meaning) here it's a pyrrhic half-victory for them as they dealt much heavier losses on the Britannian troops but only at the outset and failed to achieve their primary objective of capturing Cornelia.**

 **So as Cornelia said, nobody won.**


	14. Stage 14: The meeting with Kyoto

**AN: So the fact Lelouch knows about Shirley's dad dying** _ **before**_ **she tells him is a major change in the canon. As it was a major shock moment for him to hear about this at least a** _ **day**_ **after he died.**

 **But with C2 having broken into hysterics about it beforehand, it's not nearly as influential, and infact hardens his resolve since he now knows that Clovis is the ultimate reason Shirley's father is in the position he's in.**

 **That said, one of his three most powerful assets is a total emotional wreck that he cannot rely upon in battle for the moment as she's too busy wallowing in her own emotional despair to be much use for the most part.**

 **Yeah, consequences for things are fun.**

 **Also I'm finally getting descriptive text to flow somewhat naturally.**

 **And because FF now gives you a full year rather than three months to store files… Might redo earlier chapters if possible with these adjustments.**

 **To be fair this is no Cold Calculus or Megiddo but I do the best I can to make it presentable.**

 **I also find it funny nobody really remembers that the Kozuki group had like at least a dozen people in it given the amount of Sutherlands that are being used by them in episode 2 numbers about eleven plus Kallen's Glasgow and Lelouch's stolen Pureblood unit, but only** _ **seven**_ **survived to become core members of the Black Knights, including Kallen of course.**

 **Everyone else fighting in Shinjuku were likely killed by Britannian conventional forces after Suzaku disabled their Sutherlands.**

 **Kinda morbid now that I think about it.**

 **Anyways, the posit** **ive reviews I've been getting have been helpful, and I'm glad that at least one person noticed that N.N. was actually Nemo from KoN.**

 **That said, reviews to find major errors in both logic and spelling are always helpful as well.**

* * *

 **September 16, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Cornelia clicked her tongue as an administration official praised the 'operation' at Narita during the post-battle conference, a full two days days after the fact.

Liath and Colonel stood to either side of her, the latter mostly because they didn't have enough room for him to physically sit down and the former because she'd shown up on a whim and there hadn't been time to reallocate space at the table.

"Your Narita operation was a resounding success Viceroy, we're hunting down the survivors one by one."

"Are you being sarcastic?" She asked dryly. "We're barely pulling our forces back together after the absolute _thrashing_ the Army's Knightmare and Ride Armor troops suffered there."

"No… I didn't mean to…"

"The occupation government is responsible for this! You've done _nothing_ regarding Area 11's subways and mining railways!" Guilford shouted, slamming his fist on the table. "In the Ghettos they falsify the registrations and property deeds as the rebellion spreads _unchallenged_!" He accused, his glasses reflecting the glare of the lights as the officials felt sweat roll down their necks.

"Uhh… The subway tunnels stretch over the whole country and are present in _every_ major city, filling them in even partially is an absorbently expensive task." The man replied, attempting to defuse the situation.

"The _terrorists_ are using them as their _strike bases_ and _escape routes_!" Guilford replied heatedly. "Cost should be no issue!"

"Prince Clovis _instructed_ us-." A glare from Cornelia caused him to pause before the official spoke up again. "He told us that forcing them closed would further forment rebellion in the Area and give the Chinese Federation an excuse to attack."

"They've _already_ got their excuse, Zero is growing stronger and _bolder_ by the day and the Chinese have already been massing their forces for _months_. Once they pass a certain threshold of relative strength they'll launch their attack. No doubt they're waiting for Zero to whittle our troops down for them." Cornelia stated, locking the officials in her gaze.

"Vice-Minister… Internal affairs has appointed a special group of Elevens to self-govern certain areas of the country is that right?" Darlton asked as Euphie and Iris glanced over at him from their seats. "A group who are called the Nippon Affairs Committee or NAC."

Half the various ministers recoiled or sat up straighter in shock. Having hoped the NAC wouldn't be brought up at any point.

"When we stormed Narita, we looked for evidence of the NAC's conspiracies based on information forwarded to us by OSI at the behest of the Second Prince. But anything that could have survived the landslide had been deleted or destroyed." The General stated. "Still, our suspicions remain high, but if we suppress them now…" He looked to Cornelia for guidance on the matter.

"Hmph… A group of blue bloods and plutocrats, relics of their dismal past…" Cornelia muttered.

Liath's helmet turned ever so slightly to glance at her. **="One would almost think they were** _ **Britannian**_ **in their opportunism."=** The Executrix joked.

"Perhaps… Perhaps…" Cornelia agreed, a wry smirk on her face as she understood what the other woman meant by it.

The Vice-Minister shot up hastily. Too hastily for Colonel's liking. The Reploid's face contorting into a light sneer as the man began sputtering.

"W… Wait! P… Please! These are just dismal rumors! There's no evidence of that at all!" He protested. "If you suppress them… That means the Elevens will no longer be able to contribute as effectively to the larger economy, which means less tax revenue to send to the homeland!" He panted, wiping his face.

Iris cocked her head. "Certainly it couldn't have that much of an effect with the proper mitigating actions?" She questioned, Cornelia noting that Iris, while quite empathetic like Euphie, had several holdovers left in her personality coding from when she and Colonel were split off from Project: MAJOR that were intended to save money on the recoding, a slight streak of ruthlessness being one of them.

Euphie and Cornelia stared at the man, both suspicious of his sudden distress. "Besides, it's a primary directive of the Empire that numbers should take care of their own kind." The Vice-Minister noted.

"And what, pray tell, have you done to find the Black Knights?" Cornelia inquired, her fingers tapping on her laptop's frame.

"We unearthed one of the Burais they left and checked its data recorders, showing that Zero was behind the Narita fiasco. But that's all we've got. You can't squeeze information out of corpses!"

Any further conversation was broken off by Liath putting a hand to the faceplate of her helmet and _laughing_. = **"Is that** _ **all**_ **? You mean all of the information that you've managed to acquire are facts** _ **we already know**_ **?! If I wanted such an** _ **obvious**_ **piece of intel I could've just asked the grunts in the field! Absolutely _useless_ the lot of you!"= **The Executrix mocked aloud as the men sank into their seats.

Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "The Executrix raises an excellent point, you _can't_ catch Zero, you _won't_ let us hit Kyoto, and your attempts to gather information are so far behind even basic HUMINT operations that they're simply wasting time and money. Vice-Minister there's a fine line between incompetence and malice and you best be sure you fall on the _incompetence_ side for your sake. As Liath is _hardly_ as forgiving as Colonel and I are of the latter, and as the Executrix of the Empire her word is _law_ whenever not countermanded by or contradictory to the orders and decrees of his Majesty the Emperor." Cornelia warned as the various ministers glanced around the room at the various Royal Guard armsmen, Repliforce Troopers and 501st Soldiers standing at guard posts.

The men then glanced at the sword hanging off Liath's belt and collectively gulped.

"U… Understood Viceroy…" One of them finally managed.

* * *

 **September 16, 2017 ATB.**

 **Kirihara Shrine, Kyoto Settlement, Area 11.**

"So, the Viceroy has gone this far already…" Taizou Kirihara mumbled as he and five of the six house leaders sat around a fire in Seiza position.

"With the core strength of the Liberation Front smashed or absconding to the Black Knights, the last embers of the old Japan have died away…" Tousai Munakata noted somewhat remorsefully.

"No! He may be on the run, but Todoh is still strong! Still fighting! And Captain Hiryuu's taskforce is out there as well" A Kyoto house leader stated confidently.

"Even if that's so, I heard he was forced to abandon the custom Burais after being engaged by Repliforce elements while retreating from Narita. Moreover Hiryuu has adamantly stated that engaging the Britannians with so few ships is a suicide mission and will not aid us unless we can nullify their air force and navy. So there's no hope." Another said in resignation.

"There is hope." Kaguya Sumeragi said from her place outside the room.

The other five Kyoto house leaders turned to face her. "The Black Knights? Sumeragi you've been infatuated with Zero ever since he rescued Kururugi's son. We even sent him the Guren Mark Two, yet I doubt he'll ever trust our motives, let alone follow orders from us. He's a prudent yet proud man and he cannot be tamed by normal means."

"Then perhaps we _shouldn't_ tame him." She suggested as the five men glanced at eachother.

* * *

 **September 17, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"And after the defeat at Trafalgar, Elizabeth III found herself surrounded by revolutionary forces sponsored by Napoleon in Edinburgh, it was only thanks to the Duke of Britannia and his forces that she was rescued from the grisly fate of the guillotine and escaped to the American Colonies, what we now know as the coremost sector of our great Homeland." Shirley's history teacher explained as the girl obliviously opened a letter from her father behind her textbook.

Inside were a pair of opera tickets. Rather expensive ones to boot.

"Oh father…" She whispered before glancing over and around, spotting her roommate Sophie and her deskmate sitting at the rear across the aisle from her, but then noting that Kallen was still absent.

And was immediately reminded of the other girl's 'not-kiss' with Lelouch.

* * *

 **September 17, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The thought of it nagged at her even after she arrived for her Council work, the girl making humming and sighing noises while Milly worked on budget reports across from her. "Alright I've had about enough of the Shirley soundboard, what's got you worried?" She asked. "Constipated, your _monthly_?"

Shirley squeaked as she remembered where she was. "That's not it." She said defensively.

"Oh I get it! You're lonely because Lelouch is gone!"

Shirley sighed and looked down at the tickets. "It's more like Kallen's gone the same day he is, again, I can understand taking C2 with him but… Why Kallen?" She mumbled.

Milly leaned back in her chair whilst Nina continued her research and finance work in the corner of the room, tuning out the other two. "Oh so carefree, while the rest of the world grapples with what happened at Narita. Suzaku's been out for two days because of that too you know."

"I know that! But Lulu _and_ Kallen _,_ gone on the same day, together! That's serious!" She replied as Milly began to laugh.

"I envy you Shirley, that's what I love about you." Milly stated as Nina looked over and the long since better groomed Arthur got up from his position under a piece of furniture after Shirley slapped the tickets on the table.

"Don't make fun of me!" She huffed indignantly.

Milly stood up and crossed her arms across her chest as she walked down the length of the table. "Then just _tell him_ already, just eight _little_ words." She suggested. "I wanna go on a date with you!"

Shirley blushed and began to stutter a bit. "I couldn't! I just _couldn't_! What if… What if…"

"What if he rejects me!?" Milly said as she turned around, doing an imitation of a worried Shirley. "It could ruin our great friendship!" She dropped the act and began laughing.

Shirley looked down, her face still red. "You don't have to laugh… That hard you know…" She mumbled under her breath.

"It's comforting isn't it…? This place now… The way we are together…" Milly said softly.

"That's true…" Shirley mumbled.

"Still, we should prepare ourselves a bit… Nothing stays the same forever you know…" Milly said, before changing her attitude when she saw the look on Shirley's face. "Oh forget it! Please don't take me too seriously…" She noticed that Shirley still had that same look on her face. "If it's bothering you that much just ask him the next chance you get." She advised.

At that moment Lelouch walked in.

"So, how do you feel about it on _your_ side." She asked him, causing Shirley to look up and over at Lelouch, whom managed to keep his face passive despite his roiling emotions.

"Lulu! I thought you were absent!" Shirley yelped in surprise.

"Nunnally had a little fever this morning, and C2 is performing a full diagnostic on her systems after a minor incident involving the television yesterday while Sayoko was busy so I stayed behind to help." A partial truth, as Nunnally _was_ indeed suffering from a fever, Sayoko _was_ busy, and C2 _was_ performing diagnostics on her systems.

"Oh really, you don't say…" Shirley replied nervously. "So is Nunna feeling better now?"

"A bit." He stated.

"Well what about C2… When is she coming around again?" Shirley asked innocently.

"It'll take a while to figure out what's going on with her because she's rather clammed up about what happened with her, so not for a few days at most.

" _I don't think she'll be able to look at your kind, innocent, face again without bursting into tears for a while Shirley."_ He thought grimly before looking over at Milly. "Madame President, those papers?" He inquired.

"Oh, right! Make sure you organize all of them by year and class okay?"

Lelouch shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, I will…" He replied as he walked over to the table and picked up the paperwork he was supposed to do. "You have a talent for ordering people around…" He said as he turned to leave.

Milly giggled. "And you're a great subordinate!"

"Subordinate… Yeah, I guess that's what I am…" He muttered as he walked down the hallway to go work on the assigned papers.

Shirley finally relaxed once he was gone. "Ugh… Madame President, you nearly gave me a heart attack doing that!" She grumbled before looking down at the table. "Huh!? Where's my tickets!?"

Milly mentally recorded the panicked look on Shirley's face for posterity as the ginger shot up and rushed out down the hall.

"Oh young love…" She whispered as she glanced over at Nina. "Isn't that right Nina?"

"Huh?" Nina mumbled as she looked up at Milly, who simply sighed and chuckled.

* * *

 **September 17, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Lulu!" Shirley called out as Lelouch stopped just down the steps from the Clubhouse and turned to face her.

"What is it?" He asked in his usual bored manner. Whilst mentally wondering if she'd gotten the news about her father, discarding the theory as she was far too chipper looking for that to be the case.

"Uh, uhm… Is my dad's letter mixed up with that paperwork?" She asked nervously as Lelouch checked the folder he was carrying in response.

"Hmm?" He spotted the letter and held it out to her. "Oh, sorry." He said before noticing she had a pensive look on her face and immediately bringing back up that theory again. "What's wrong?" He asked.

From Lelouch's window, C2 and Nemo watched the two, the immortal seeming mildly uninterested while C2 had a pensive frown on her face.

Shirley seemed to remember where she was suddenly. "Uh! Lulu?" She began to rifle through her bag, causing Lelouch some confusion.

"Shirley?"

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Nemo glanced down at the two after hearing seeing Shirley flush red and hand one of the tickets to Lelouch before walking back inside. "I think she just asked him out on a date…" The immortal mumbled to herself.

C2 sighed and sat down on the bed, ignoring the fresh pizza next to her despite it being her favorite comfort item.

"Oi, fatass, that's where I sleep."

The Reploid leaned back onto the bed and grumbled as her blade antennas folded back, a sign of her emotional distress, but didn't react otherwise.

"You're being too weepy, people die all the time in war as collateral." Nemo told her.

"You haven't killed innocent civilians, you don't get a say…" The Reploid mumbled under her breath.

Nemo rolled her eyes. "Oh get over it, moping about it won't bring them back."

C2 rolled onto her side as Nemo picked up a piece of pizza and took a bite. "Are you more upset about Shirley's dad or the fact that your crush almost killed you?" She inquired as the Reploid glared at her.

"I don't see how it's relevant."

Nemo rolled her eyes. "It's plenty relevant, some people who feel rejected act all mopey while others just go full on suicidal." She stated bluntly.

"Is that why you keep blocking bullets meant for Lelouch with your face? Because you want him to notice your feelings for him?" The Reploid said with a light smirk.

" _What the!? She turned it around on me that fast?!"_ Nemo thought as she reeled back slightly. "Stop being so suspicious! And I only got shot for him once!" She corrected.

"You're the one who said some people who feel rejected get suicidal, not me."

"That's hardly the case, to me he's nothing more than a means to an end!" She denied rather heatedly.

"Oh really now?" C2 said, raising an eyebrow slightly.

With their attention diverted, neither of them noticed the lanky white-haired young man standing quite conspicuously atop a building at the university across the street.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Shirley panted as she hid behind the clubhouse after rushing away from Lelouch.

"I did it! I really did it!" She said with glee in her voice. "So now what happens… He'll come right?" She asked herself. "I mean he didn't say no!"

She paused as she contemplated the possibility he may have simply been too flustered to say no before shaking her head and pumping herself up. "He's just coming with me to a little concert!"

"So, it's no big thing… But still, it's a chance!" She said happily and held the ticket close to herself as her phone began to ring. "Thank you, father…" She smiled before she finally realized her phone was ringing and pulled it out to check.

The caller ID read MOM.

"Huh…?"

* * *

 **September 17, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knight's Mobile HQ, Tokyo Port Concession, Area 11.**

The assembled core group of the Black Knights sat around in their command center as they patted themselves on the backs and had a few drinks.

"Kyoto praised us for using the Guren so well." Ohgi relayed as Zero shifted slightly while Kallen looked up from her studies. "I thought that was encouraging, especially considering how Narita turned out..."

"But there was that White Knightmare again…" She began.

"So what? It was a tie right? A tie!" Tamaki chuckled as he picked up his shot glass again.

Zero's thoughts lay elsewhere. _"Why would Shirley just, out of the blue…"_ He wondered as he remembered her reason for giving him the tickets.

"Here." Ohgi said, knocking Lelouch out of his thoughts.

="Hmm? What's this?"=

"A love letter." Ohgi said sarcastically.

="Oh, from you?"= Zero joked as a slightly inebriated Tamaki continued laughing much to Kallen's continued annoyance.

"And they say you have no sense of humor!" He said before continuing to laugh his ass off.

"Why do we even let you have access to alcohol again?" Kallen mumbled as C2 glanced up from where she was sitting, the Reploid busy polishing the white trimming on her verdant colored leg armor after ensuring the new top coat of paint, a special blend that was made to work with her VAWS system in order for it to change color, had taken nicely.

"It's an official letter from Kyoto, they urgently request a meeting with us." Ohgi said, serious this time.

="Is this really such a big deal?"= Zero asked as he cocked his head slightly.

Kallen looked up from her book. "A big deal!? It's _Kyoto_!" She uttered, leaning closer to Zero.

"If they fully accept us, we'll have nearly unlimited funding, logistics, intelligence, and recruitment support." Ohgi noted. "It could solve our financial crisis." He added.

=" _Crisis?_ "= Zero asked as C2 raised an eyebrow behind her visor, causing Ohgi to realize that their leader and his closest associate had _no idea_ about their financial state and recoil back slightly. ="There _shouldn't_ be any problem if you're following the budget _I_ laid out."=

C2 glanced over at Tamaki, narrowing her eyes at the man as Ohgi resigned himself to explaining the issue. "Well I…"

Tamaki spoke up a bit too hastily, giving himself away. "Hey! It's not _my_ fault! We're turning into a big organization now! That means new expenses you know!" He defended.

"You do realize that nobody brought _you_ up right…?" C2 observed, causing Tamaki to pale in horrified realization as everyone turned to look at him.

"Oh right, there's those big _fancy_ dinners for the new recruits that you host so you can _show off_." Kallen jeered with the absolutely smuggest grin on her face as she looked up from her textbook again.

"Hey, you!" He started.

"I know where you've been taking them mister _big spender_." Kallen quipped, cutting him off.

Zero huffed in annoyance. ="Ohgi is in charge of the treasury until further notice."= He stated, irritated now by the lack of discipline regarding their very limited funds. ="And Tamaki isn't allowed to spend our funds for the foreseeable future without _approved_ oversight, which means Kallen, Q2, or Ohgi until I can be sure that none of the rest of you will let occasional things slide."=

Those who remained unmentioned glanced away awkwardly.

Tamaki shot up. "Hey! I'm supposed to be the one in charge of the cash! That's my job!"

="If you want me to trust you, then perhaps demonstrate to me that you won't waste our funding on excess spending. That money is for supplies and equipment, not satisfying your ego by showing off."= Zero jabbed back at him.

"Why you! You talk about trust but hide you face from your partners behind a mask!" Tamaki shouted at him.

The other Black Knights glanced over at the argument. Lelouch sighing mentally as Tamaki kept railing on him.

"So how about it Zero, come on!" Tamaki pressed him.

Ohgi turned to the others. "Hold on, let's-"

"Zero's not the problem here! Who _cares_ who he is or whether or not he's abrasive sometimes!" Kallen defended as she stood up and stared Tamaki down. "He had the skill to outwit Cornelia didn't he!? That's why he's the leader of the Black Knights! So do you _really_ need to know more than what's absolutely necessary about him? Besides, if it wasn't for him and Q2 we'd all have died in Shinjuku when Prince Clovis enacted that coverup!" She shouted.

Tamaki grimaced and looked away, realizing she was right.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

Nunnally drove her wheelchair down the hallway and stopped as she heard gasps from inside the student council meeting room and entered.

"Nina? Is that you?" She asked innocently. "If you're not feeling well then-"

"Oh no! It's nothing… Don't worry about it!" Nina said hastily as she smoothed out her skirt and gathered up the magazine.

From just outside the room, Nemo smirked and walked back to Lelouch's room quietly.

" _Oh now, didn't think she was so interested in Euphemia… Makes you wonder if she has an idle crush on C2's alter-ego for saving her from the JLF as well. Would be an interesting deal to see_ that _threesome. Especially since Reploids tend to defer to their gender identities much like humans do in many cases."_ She thought idly as she quietly walked down the hall so Nunnally wouldn't notice her.

* * *

 **September 17, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shinjuku Ghetto, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

In an abandoned warehouse the main group of the Black Knights, sans Kallen, waited around discussing their future.

"So what do we do…?" Tamaki asked as they waited for Zero's orders.

"I don't know…" Ohgi admitted finally.

"We were in Naoto's unit…" Minami mumbled under his breath.

"I don't mind his kid sister Kallen, but…" Sugiyama muttered.

"You were next in line to take command after Naoto got caught in the crossfire during a Maverick Hunter raid on one of our suppliers…" Tamaki groused. "I still can't believe you lied to Kallen about that."

Ohgi glared at Tamaki. "Surprising that nobody mentioned the first part of _that_ at Narita…" He whispered under his breath.

"It's because Zero practically forced himself into the leadership role…" Inoue grumbled. "I mean the guy at least admits he's human and all but his ego just gets so damn grating..."

"We're the senior commanders and he keeps secrets from _us_ … I've got no real problems with the guy being our commander or keeping certain bits of info confidential but jeez it's not exactly conductive to trust for him to keep hiding so much from us." Yoshida sighed.

Ohgi glanced over at Yoshida and nodded in agreement. "I'll ask him about it later… But we do owe him… Otherwise we'd have died with the other half of our number back in Shinjuku…" He said as he checked the exterior of the window.

Izumi and the other Yamato Alliance survivors looked at eachother pensively. Having remained out of the argument.

* * *

Inside the Mobile HQ, Lelouch checked over the info he had scrounged up regarding the possible NAC leaders. _"I've narrowed it down to twelve possibilities… Now let's see which bets pay off… For that I'll have to meet them face to face. Kusukabe's info came in handy as well with this."_ He thought as a solid knock came at the door, C2 glancing over at it as Lelouch grabbed the mask. "Who is it?" He inquired.

"It's me. Uh… I'm sorry if I was out of line when I spoke up back there." Kallen's voice carried through the door.

"Kallen… Tell me, do you want to know my identity as well?" Lelouch asked.

* * *

Kallen remembered Nemo. "That girl knows… Doesn't she… And so does Q2…" She whispered under her breath before speaking up again. "No. Sorry to bother you." She apologized before walking away.

* * *

C2 glanced at Lelouch, whom raised an eyebrow. "You've been in a better mood recently." He noted before she could say anything.

"Nemo's been a bit of a help in keeping my mind off of… Well you know…"

He chuckled morbidly. "And here I was thinking it would take longer… Well… There's still the final issue we have to deal with…"

"Two final issues…" C2 corrected hesitantly.

"Right… I almost forgot…" Lelouch sighed in resignation. "I just hope Shirley doesn't do anything stupid… She's so cheerful and innocent, but you can never tell what people will do when everything goes downhill." He mused worriedly. "Now, about that deal I had you make earlier..."

"It's been done, your future bodyguard unit will have its upgraded Guren Mark Ones within a week or so, all we need now is to find loyal pilots who can keep up with Kallen that aren't already assigned." She paused for a second. "And who can tolerate the Guren's absolutely horrendous pilot ergonomics." The Reploid added, having made her opinion on the Guren's cockpit design quite clear before Narita.

Lelouch nodded at her and sighed, knowing that the more Seventh Gen units he had, the better he could stand against Britannia's far more numerous and better equipped forces. "Very well then."

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The door to Nunnally's room slid open and Lelouch stepped into the doorway.

There was a rustle as Nunnally sat up. "Lelouch?"

He looked over at her and smiled before walking inside. "Looks like your fever's gone." He observed as he stepped up to her bedside.

"Maybe I was just a little moody." Nunnally replied thoughtfully.

"Moody?" He asked, not sure what she was saying here.

Nunnally laid back down. "It just seems to me lately that you've become distant, like you've got a lot of other things weighing on your mind." She stated.

Lelouch was briefly stunned by the acute observation, but remembered that ever since their mother died, the girl had been unnervingly perceptive of what was going on around her.

She stuck her tongue out playfully and turned her head to 'look' at her brother. "Perhaps my body just did this on its own to get your attention." She joked.

Lelouch knelt down next to her bed and cupped her hand in his own.

"You're wrong, I _haven't_ changed. No matter _what_ , I'll always be at your side Nunnally." He promised.

"So then… Can I be a little selfish now?" She asked. "Just please, hold my hand a little bit longer, I'm afraid if I fall asleep alone, I'll have that dream again."

Lelouch gently squeezed her hand as Nemo watched from the doorway. _"Lelouch, are you lying to her, or_ yourself _when you said that? People change, I'm proof enough of that, as is C2, and perhaps your friend Suzaku is as well…"_ She thought before turning and quietly walking back to his room. _"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely... If you let your Geass corrupt you, then you will be_ lost _."_

* * *

 **September 18, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"You're serious, asking me for another favor?" Nemo asked as Lelouch paused on his way off the school campus after leaving the Clubhouse.

"Yes, I got the idea from something that _you_ said… No matter what Kyoto's intentions are, I want their _power_." He told her.

"Is that what you _actually_ wish for? If you really need it that badly I'll try to help you…" She conceded as she stood up. "Just so you know we'll be in deep with next to no cover, if Britannia should come knocking C2 won't be able to help us against their soldiers.

"The area we're going to is ill-suited for military Reploids in the first place, only very expensively fabricated special-ordered mining and overseer models are present. Besides, the Britannians would _never_ expect us to meet there. _"_ He said as he walked over to her. "Just make sure you're in position, I _need_ you for this plan Nemo. You're the only one I trust enough to pull it off to the letter."

She cocked her head at him and blinked a couple times before smirking. "I understand. By the way, you forgot this." She said, holding up Lelouch's opera ticket between two fingers, which he promptly snatched.

"I didn't forget, I didn't know when I was going to be back tonight, so I was going to call her and either cancel or reschedule if possible." He informed Nemo as the immortal shrugged.

"You just keep piling things on don't you…"

Lelouch's phone beeped, Nemo frowning as he pulled it out and briefly checked the caller ID before picking up. "Ah, good timing, I wanted to call, you se-" He began before Shirley nervously spoke up.

["Uh, listen, Lulu… I know we made a date tonight and all, but I was just calling you to let you know I'll be late. Sorry, but I'm sure it'll be fine, really… But I promise that I'll be there."] Shirley said before hanging up, Lelouch swearing he heard a train rolling into a station over the line.

"What was that about…" He murmured.

Nemo sighed. "Let's get moving alright?"

He nodded at her. "Where is C2 by the way…?" Lelouch asked.

"On a date."

"A date? With whom?" He inquired, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"That Maverick Hunter who nearly totaled her apparently, he called her up not that long ago and she accepted… It's surreal isn't it, that she and him are budding lovers by day and determined enemies by night." Nemo noted as they walked down the path.

"That's so cliché you'd think it was out of a comic book or a bad romance novel." Lelouch scoffed.

Nemo shrugged. "Perhaps, but the truth is often stranger than fiction."

* * *

 **September 18, 2017 ATB.  
Shinjuku Ghetto, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Fog laid heavily over part of the Ghetto as Zero stood in the street, waiting for Kyoto's conveyance vehicle to arrive.

As the limo pulled up, Lelouch smirked behind his mask as the driver rolled down his window and peered out.

" _No sunglasses, perfect."_ He thought.

"Please bring your command staff along as per my master's instructions. Understood?" The man stated.

="They're patrolling the perimeter in case of any _unpleasant_ contingencies."= Zero replied. ="I'll call them soon. However, before I do…"=

The eyeport on Lelouch's mask opened up, his Geass glimmering in his left eye.

* * *

 **September 18, 2017 ATB.**

 **Narita Mountains, Area 11.**

VTOLs thrummed overhead as heavy digging machines, military vehicles, both armored and unarmored, dump trucks, all-terrain emergency vehicles, Knightmares, ride armors, and Mechaniloids rumbled about, excavating earth and moving debris.

Britannian soldiers from search and rescue and graves registration units, both Reploid and human alike, aided volunteer and civilian workers, Britannian and Eleven, Human and Reploid, in unearthing the dead.

C2 fired up one of her drills, which was smaller and less powerful than the ones in her armored mode, and cracked into a piece of rubble that was blocking access to a buried Japanese MBT.

All the while she was _insanely_ nervous someone would recognize her, especially with the drills and all, but so far everyone had assumed that she just a custom ordered geological research unit turned aide to some student.

The fact she didn't have full out battle armor and that many Reploid models shared design traits and color schemes was helpful as well.

X walked over and shattered the remains of the rubble with a well placed buster shot while a Britannian M88 Armored Recovery Vehicle rolled over to the wreck, the crew giving her a thumbs up as they began to attach the towing cables to the tank to haul it out of the mudslide and recover the crew. "We'll handle it from here, thanks!"

C2 nodded and moved onto the next requested site for her to help, never once glancing back.

Nor did she want to.

She'd quickly discovered that one of the worst parts about the aftermath of a battle wasn't the families, the tears, or the bodies.

It was the smell… The flies flitting about bloated corpses that had been exposed to the elements. She'd already had to shut off her olfactory sensors because of it all.

That these people had to see their loved ones in such a state...

There was no dignity in it.

"You doing okay…?" X asked as he jogged up next to her, an M728 CEV bulldozing part of a ruined apartment complex in the background after it had been cleared by the Royal Engineers.

"This wasn't what I had in mind for a date you know…" She replied queasily.

"The sheer size of the flow area has overwhelmed the recovery teams, that's why they called in volunteers, you mentioned being originally made for geological survey when we were at the movies, so I thought…" He admitted sheepishly.

C2 lightly jabbed him in the arm. "It's alright, I understand why you did it…" She said as they walked up to the next site where a pair of Britannian soldiers from the SAR division were pulling out the corpses of an Eleven family and placing them in body bags.

"What a damn waste…" One of them mumbled in disgust at the wanton death.

"I mean hell, isn't Zero supposed to be the 'good guy' to the Elevens? The Black Knights are such hypocrites." His partner mumbled.

"Yeah they are. How the hell did they expect anyone down here to survive that slide?" The first man asked.

"Simple, you get lucky. That's it." The second man noted morbidly.

"Feh, always figured that stuff about us being the chosen supermen was bullcrap fed by the recruiters."

"Don't I know it."

C2 sighed, they weren't wrong, about any of it.

"You okay? Seemed a little bit lost there…" X noted as they walked out of earshot of the two soldiers as another pair of medevac UV-1s landed nearby to load up some of the few survivors that had been recently uncovered in the ruins of some buildings.

"Yeah…" She said, as they walked through the mud while a line of M35 and M39 series trucks passed by, a mix of cargo transports, fuel trucks to support the equipment, and 'wrecker' recovery vehicles, as they approached the base camp where dozens of families and friends of the deceased, Britannian and Eleven alike, wept over the dead while techs and mechanics did their best to repair the damaged Reploids and Mechaniloids recovered from the mud and rubble, those who could not be brought back online due to damage were unceremoniously dumped into the backs of trucks to be hauled away for recycling much to C2's consternation.

"I'm fine..." She lied after a moment.

* * *

As they passed the ASEEC tent, Suzaku noticed C2's distinctive hair as she and X walked by, neither noticing him.

"C2… She volunteered?" He mumbled as the Reploids passed by, but he was on the clock so he couldn't stop to chat with her anyway.

Idly, he overheard Cecile and Lloyd talking about his chances for victory in future engagements with the Black Knights' ace Knightmare.

He paid them no mind, much like he paid little mind to the idle chatter of his former barracks-mates regarding Marilyn Monroe's suicide last month.

All he needed to know was that he could fight and protect people.

"Maybe… You just need to get your hands a little dirty to protect those close to you…" He whispered, remembering how Liath noted that sometimes, you couldn't afford to _not_ kill a dangerous target.

If he'd simply shot Zero then and there four days ago nobody would've really minded he guessed, aside from those who truly wished to make an example of him.

Of course, Suzaku knew that there was a big difference between words and action. And even now he still wasn't sure he could back those words up.

* * *

 **September 18, 2017 ATB.**

 **Mt Fuji internal transit tunnel, Area 11.**

"This is taking too long, when do we get there…?" Tamaki grumbled as Kallen rolled her eyes from across the car from him.

"Could you chill out, you're embarrassing us." The redhead muttered.

Any smartass reply from Tamaki was cut off by the vehicle jolting as it stopped and was locked into something.

"What the hell?" Tamaki grumbled.

"We're going up…?" Kallen noted as the car soon jerked to a halt again and drove forwards a bit before stopping one last time, likely to get clear of the elevator shaft.

The engine shut off and the driver opened the doors to the passenger compartment, which had been shrouded to prevent anyone from seeing outside. "Apologies for any inconvenience, the Master is waiting for you." He said.

The four of them exited the vehicle and Ohgi's eyes widened as he stared out the window.

"This is… The Fuji mines?!" He gasped in awe.

Tamaki rushed over to the window and pressed his face against the glass. "That is not possible!" He denied as he stared out over Area 11's land and the vast megastructure that made up the Sakuradite processing and mining facilities below. "There's no way we can be _here_!"

"It has to be Mount Fuji! There's only one mountain like this in Japan! No wonder Q2 couldn't come with us! Her systems would be absolutely fried!" Kallen said, still in shock herself.

"That means the Sakuradite is right _below_ us!? The damn treasure that got Japan into this entire mess in the first place… Oh man, you know what they do to intruders here? They just shoot them in the head and dump the bodies in an _incinerator_!" Tamaki said as he continued to process what he was witnessing.

"Their power reaches all the way out here…? The Kyoto group is amazing…" Ohgi breathed.

"It's _repulsive_." A voice said in disgust as the window immediately turned opaque at a remote command. "Mount Fuji, a sacred mountain once known for its clear water and quiet beauty, now shackled by steel and raped by unrestrained mining at the hands of a slave labor force of poorly paid Japanese and overworked Reploids, all bent to the Empire's will in a hideous display of violation. A reflection of what Japan has become. It pains me so…" The old man said as Zero and the other Black Knights present turned to face him.

"I apologize for not showing my face, but Zero, your face is hidden as well… Unfortunately, I cannot allow this… To trust you, I must know who you are… Therefore… You will show me your face." He ordered as he gestured out from underneath the shroud of his litter with his cane.

At that command, four Burais bearing olive drab JLF color schemes rolled out of the shadows, armed with assault rifles, stun tonfas, and machine guns. Flanking the Black Knights, two on either side, the Knightmares aimed their rifles at the four.

A fine enough display of Kyoto's power and influence to have the ability to station multiple Knightmares of their own in one of the highest security zones in the entire _Empire_.

Kallen rushed to place herself between the Kyoto leader and Zero and spread her arms, the man's bodyguards watching her for any sign of a hidden weapon other personnel could've missed. "Please wait! Zero has given us power and victory, that shou-" She pleaded before being cut off.

" **Silence!** " The Kyoto leader bellowed, causing Kallen to reel back slightly. "Now, which of you is Ohgi?" He demanded, Ohgi standing up straight.

"That's me." He replied, not quite sure why he had been called upon.

" _You_ will _remove_ Zero's mask." He instructed Ohgi.

Ohgi stunned, nevertheless moved to do as instructed, mostly because he figured that if he didn't, either Tamaki would, or the Burais would cut them all down.

Kallen wheeled around, fists clenched. "Ohgi!" She protested.

He grimaced as he looked at Zero 'face to face'. "I'm sorry Zero… But we need a reason to put our faith in you too…" He reached up and grabbed either side of the mask, vaguely noting it was odd that Zero hadn't spoken a word to them, or anyone, since they'd met up with him at the pickup point, and certainly that he hadn't even protested this order. "To put our trust in you…"

He removed the mask, before he and Tamaki jolted back slightly, stunned.

"Not what you expected?" Nemo asked slyly as she raised an eyebrow, her red eyes scanning over the room.

"A woman?!" Tamaki gasped as Nemo resisted the urge to facepalm.

"No, I'm clearly a man." Nemo quipped sarcastically as Ohgi found his own muttering cut off.

"It's not… She's not Zero…! I saw her before with him after Narita!" Kallen said, irritated with the whole situation now, as that left the _actual_ Zero's whereabouts unknown.

"You there, girl, is this true?"

Nemo glanced at the man. "It is…"

"So, you are not Japanese?"

Nemo smirked. "That's right… Clan chief of Kyoto… **Taizou Kirihara**."

The guards stiffened and then immediately went for their sidearms.

" _Anyone_ who can identify him must **die**!" The man to Kirihara's left stated as he drew his pistol from inside his tuxedo.

"Especially one who is _not_ **Japanese**!" The second man declared as he gestured for the Burais to kill them.

"Uh! Hey! Hold on! I'm not part of this!" Tamaki pleaded as one of the Burais to the right of the Black Knights turned and fired its slash harkens at the units across the room, destroying the rifles of the opposing machines before activating its stun Tonfa and smacking the weapon out of the hands of the machine to its left as it tried to react.

The rogue Knightmare activated its landspinners and raced towards Kirihara's litter, stopping just short of it as his bodyguards futilely aimed their pistols at the KMF's cockpit, the muzzle of the Burai's 25mm assault rifle in turn aimed dead center on Kirihara.

[="You're soft, and your methods and thinking are outdated, it's no wonder Kusukabe left the JLF for greener pastures."=] A voice taunted from the Burai's speakers.

Kirihara clenched his cane as Zero emerged from the cockpit of the Burai and stood up.

="That is why… You'll _never_ win!"= He declared as his left arm shot out, a remote trigger for the Burai's firing controls in his hand.

"Zero!?" Kallen whispered as she and the others watched him, stunned by his sudden appearance.

Well except for Nemo.

"W… When did you…" One of the bodyguards whispered before aiming his pistol at Zero.

"Hold on!" The other man shouted, staying his trigger finger. "That remote he's holding is linked to the Burai's firing system on a deadman's switch! Everyone stay back! Don't move!"

Zero hopped down from the cockpit. ="Taizou Kirihara… Chairman of Kirihara industries, which has a monopoly on Sakuradite mining in Area 11."= Zero noted as a pair of specialized Mets shielded for Sakuradite mining and bearing Kirihara industries markings on their helmets ducked back behind one of the downed Burais after coming to investigate the commotion. ="Also formerly a key backer of the Kururugi regime…"=

="However, when Japan fell you dodged the tribunals by collaborating with the occupation government. Thus you became known as Kirihara the traitor, among many other less flattering names. In truth, you are one of the leaders of the six houses of Kyoto, a coalition of Japanese elites hoping to free their nation from the yoke of Britannian rule by supporting resistance groups throughout Japan, a double agent. How cliché."= Zero said, seemingly unimpressed by what he'd just stated.

="It's really quite ingenious of you to meet me in a place filled to the brim with both raw and liquified high-grade Sakuradite, as it removes my greatest infantry asset from the field due to electromagnetic interference. Although in retrospect, the only ingenious thing about is that you're able to set us up to meet here."=

"Show some respect you _swine_!" one of Kirihara's bodyguards snarled.

" **Stop!** " Kirihara barked at the man without taking his eyes off of Zero.

Zero chuckled. ="It's as you guessed though… I am _not_ Japanese!"= He declared.

Tamaki, Kallen, and Ohgi recoiled in shock, all this time, they'd never once seriously entertained the idea that Zero couldn't be Japanese.

"Is he serious?!" Tamaki questioned in shock. "No wonder he never showed his face to us…"

"But why, the only reason he wouldn't…" Ohgi said as it slowly dawned on him.

"Is if he was a **Britannian** himself." Nemo finished for him, watching the three squirm with some measure of schadenfreude as she let that info sink in.

"No way... Zero's a Brit?!" Tamaki whispered, stunned by this revelation.

"Could a Britannian… Hate their own country that much…?" Kallen whispered in awe.

"You're _half_ Britannian Kallen, and were raised that way for nearly a decade… You of all people should know that it's not impossible for Britannians to detest their country's true nature…" Nemo pointed out, leaving the girl to realize that she'd been blanketing Britannians with the same brush that they'd been blanketing the Japanese with and watched her lower her head in shame with a furious blush on her face from embarrassment, partially due to that, and partially for not even considering the possibility in the first place.

"If you are not Japanese, why do you fight for Japan?" Kirihara asked, genuinely curious as to why an outsider would side with as pitiful a David as Japan against the Goliath of Britannia. "What is it that you want?"

="The destruction of Britannia."= Zero replied plainly and without hesitation.

"And so, do you believe that this is _possible_ , that _you_ can do it?" Kirihara asked him.

="I _can_. Because I _must_!"= Zero replied. ="I have _reasons_ which _compel_ me inexorably."= He said before chuckling and starting to remove his mask. ="I'm glad that I'm dealing with you."= Lelouch said as he let Kirihara see his face, pulling down the cloth part of the mask as well after deactivating the dead man's switch on the remote and setting it aside.

Kirihara's eyes widened in awe. " **You**!" He gasped, his bodyguards glancing at eachother in confusion but saying nothing.

"It's been a long time, Lord Kirihara." Lelouch said with a soft smile on his face, remembering how the man had been a mentor to him in his time at the Kururugi residence, while he was not exactly a father figure, Kirihara was far closer to one for Lelouch than _that man_ had ever been.

"Is it really you?" He asked, stunned by Lelouch's sudden reappearance before him. "It's been eight years since that family received you as a political hostage."

Lelouch nodded. "Yes, and I appreciate you taking care of me back then." He said warmly.

"If I hadn't come tonight, were you planning on taking the messenger hostage?" Kirihara questioned cautiously.

"Not at all, I came here to ask for your aid. That's all I am seeking from you." Lelouch replied, a serious look on his face.

Taizou Kirihara smirked. "So, the flower planted eight years ago has finally bloomed." He began laughing loudly before speaking up again, loudly enough for the confused Black Knights and Nemo to hear.

" _ **Ohgi!**_ " He bellowed.

"Y… Yes?!" Ohgi acknowledged nervously.

"This man is a _true_ mortal enemy of Britannia and **everything** it stands for! His face _must_ remain hidden for vital reasons. I _urge_ you to follow Zero, and if you do we will assist you _generously_ with intelligence and _strategic_ support." Kirihara declared.

"We thank you!" Ohgi acknowledged, hiding his shock at this turn of events.

Lelouch smiled as he stood tall and turned to leave. "Thank you, I am grateful Lord Kirihara."

Kirihara peered out from under the veil of his litter. "Are you embarking on the path of blood?" He inquired of Lelouch, whom turned to look at him and remembered Shirley's dead father, and then Nunnally and all those whom suffered at Britannia's hands.

"Indeed, I have resolved to walk that path even though my faith had in my choices has recently been shaken. For if I turn back now, all that which has already been spilt will be for naught." He acknowledged. "And I do not intend to waste something so precious as life."

"You have indeed grown wise since those days." Kirihara said with a faint smile on his face.

"I owe much of it to you." Lelouch replied as he put his mask back on and walked over to the other Black Knights.

* * *

 **Narita Mountains, Area 11.**

Inside Tent 2, C2 walked among the units of soldiers performing graves registration, religious officials, forensics investigators, families, and coroners that were inspecting the dead.

She spotted Viletta Nu off to the side with Jeremiah Gottwald and frowned pensively.

Ignoring them, C2 glanced at the faces around her, the despair, the anger, the resignation, the sorrow, she would remember it all.

And again her resolve wavered as X sighed.

"This is true cost of war…" She whispered to herself, realizing how clinical all of their victories had been, she'd never seen the graves, the row of corpses that were lined up and organized for identification, the mourning families of the dead. The bodies that would be interned in unknown graves because they'd been rendered unrecognizable.

Not until now.

And it _scared_ her how fragile human life was in comparison to her metal body.

And Lelouch had waded through _fields_ of unburied and rotting corpses during the invasion while he and Suzaku took turns carrying his blind and crippled little sister until they reached a safe haven...

She didn't blame him for being such a cynic or so desensitized to the deaths of random people he'd never meet now.

"The technologies, tactics, strategies, the reasons… All of that about war changes…" X muttered. "But this… The _human_ cost… The lives _destroyed_. The _cruelties_ enacted upon those opposing eachother and the innocent caught in the crossfire. The atrocities committed… That doesn't… That _never_ changes. I became a Maverick Hunter to save lives… And now… Sometimes I feel that I'm no different from one of the grunt military Reploids rolling off of the production lines of the major powers…" He sighed as C2 placed a hand on his back to comfort him.

She looked up and over at Viletta and Jeremiah again before freezing.

Standing there in a stupor, staring at a body bag, was Shirley. And then she realized what Viletta was holding.

Shirley's Ashford Academy ID card case.

X frowned, vaguely remembering Shirley from a few weeks ago. "Friend of yours…?"

"Yeah…" C2 admitted before being nudged forwards. "Huh?"

"Go to her…" He said as C2 nodded and walked over to Shirley as a Reploid soldier unzipped a nearby body bag for a different family.

C2's worries intensified when she saw that Shirley _still_ had no reaction to her approach in spite of the noise her metallic footfalls made, the girl's gaze locked on the corpse of her father as her mother spotted the Reploid and whispered something to the oblivious girl.

"Shirley…?" C2 asked pensively as the girl turned to look at her, her movements stiff and almost… Mechanical for the lack of a better word.

"C2… What're you doing here?" She whispered as the Reploid closed the distance and hugged her closely.

"Shirley… It's okay if you need to cry…" C2 told her gently. "Just let it go, it'll help a lot… Okay?"

That was the switch that opened the floodgates as Shirley wrapped her arms around the Reploid and began sobbing, tears running down own C2's cheeks as her friend buried her face against her neck plating and wept.

X watched from afar as Zero walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "This is why we fight X… To prevent tragedies like this." Zero told his partner, whom nodded at him in agreement.

Nearby, unnoticed by most, Viletta stared intently at Lelouch's picture and showed it to Jeremiah discreetly before pocketing the photograph after he nodded at her.

Yet, there was something nagging at the back of Jeremiah's mind after seeing that photo.

 _"I know Viletta thinks he's working with Zero... But why does that young man seem so... Familiar to me...?"_ The former Margrave contemplated.

* * *

 **September 18, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Rain fell on the settlement as Lelouch walked idly around the old Imperial Theater of Japan, which had been moved wholesale to a new location in the settlement as a symbol of Britannian dominance over Japan.

He'd called Shirley at least twice so far, only to end up getting sent right to voice mail both times, texts likewise had gone unanswered. "Of course it'd be too late already…" He sighed, he'd been hoping to at least keep connected with Shirley as C2 _and_ Nemo had warned him that his antisocial tendencies were getting a bit worse.

The real question was _why_ she said she'd be late, and the pit in his stomach was telling him it had to do with her father.

* * *

Inside the theater, _both_ seats purchased for Shirley by her father remained empty.

* * *

"Anyways… We're finally moving forwards… Now the Black Knights will finally be able to operate as I envisioned…" He said to himself, at least partially to take his mind off of the nagging thoughts about Shirley.

And then he stopped suddenly, seeing her standing in the rain, completely drenched and her eyes obscured by her hair, in front of a public clock, a despondent looking C2 trying to hold an umbrella over the girl's head.

" _I see… So that was indeed the case…"_ He thought grimly but retained his resolve.

If he stopped now then her father's death would be utterly pointless, as would those of everyone else who'd died since that fateful day in Shinjuku.

And he just couldn't do that, not when he'd been in too deep since he'd murdered his own half-brother.

He walked over to her and put his umbrella over her head. "I'm sorry I was late, I thought you'd already be back home by now." He said, getting no response worryingly enough as he glanced at C2, whom looked away in shame.

"Nevermind that, come on, let's go someplace to get out of the rain now…"

"Lulu…" She said softly. "Tell me… Zero… He fights for the weak, doesn't he?" She asked, her tone quivering.

" _Not good…"_ He thought as he blinked. "Wha, yeah well, that's what he says…" Lelouch replied.

"Then why… Why did he kill my father…" Shirley asked, her voice cracking under the strain as Lelouch's face fell, feigning surprise at her father's death despite having been aware of it beforehand thanks to C2.

He noted that the Reploid had started shaking nearby as she quietly cried.

"You know… My father… He was so gentle…" She croaked. "He never ever hurt me… He didn't do anything wrong…" She continued as tears ran down her face. "But he was buried _alive_. He couldn't _breathe_ … Why… Did my father have to _die_." She sobbed as she dropped her purse. "I don't want this…" Shirley whispered before she suddenly screamed in anguish as she rushed over to Lelouch and embraced him, continuing to cry hysterically the entire time. "Please Lulu… Help me…"

Before he could understand what was going on. Her lips had connected to his in a kiss.

All he could do at that point was hold her closely and let her kiss him.

It was the _least_ he could do to comfort her after committing to the course of action that murdered her father.

Whether she knew it or not.

Off to the side C2 covered her face with her hands and slumped against a nearby tree, ignored by the two for the most part.

She didn't care that Lelouch was kissing Shirley, she didn't care that the girl had finally gotten one of her wishes fulfilled.

All that mattered to the Reploid was that Shirley's father was dead, and that were it not for _her_ , he might very well still be alive.

"I'm so sorry Shirley… It's all my fault…" She whispered underneath her sobs.

And like a specter the Maverick Virus nagged at the back of her mind, whispering its sweet and seductive yet cruel logic in her moment of weakness.

Beforehand she could easily dismiss it.

Now?

Now she had _lasting_ vulnerabilities in her psyche it could exploit.

* * *

 **September 18, 2017 ATB.**

 **Unknown Location, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

A lanky, white-haired figure wearing visor sunglasses and a pair of headphones walked into an old warehouse. "I'm back from my intel gathering mission." He said as the tall, Knight-like Reploid in the center of the warehouse turned to face him.

"What did you learn?" The Reploid inquired.

"I've identified Zero and his little tin-can _fake_." He sneered slightly. "No offense to present company but I just _detest_ that impostor."

"Stay your tongue Mao lest you **lose** it." The Reploid warned harshly.

"Now now Gareth, Mao is our _partner_ in this endeavor." A female voice announced as a Reploid styled after a sorceress walked into the light.

"Yes, Lady Berkana." Gareth acknowledged as he lowered his beam spear.

Mao shrugged flippantly. "Alright, so remind me what the deal is again, you want Reploid souls or something?"

Berkana nodded. "Indeed, I need DNA souls to achieve my research, but to do so I need Reploids and I've run out of suicidal dead-end ones, forcing us to make do with whomever we can get our hands on. In exchange for luring in Zero's Reploid ally and giving us her DNA soul on a silver platter, we'll help you find the girl you're looking for."

Mao grinned far too widely for Gareth's liking. "Alright, thanks for the refresher, kinda hard to remember sometimes when I spend too long out in the white noise from all those fools." He said before turning and heading out. "Anyways, I'm off to go look around for a bit, see what places I can find to get a leg up on them."

Gareth watched him leave before speaking up once he was out of earshot "I will enjoy slaughtering him." The Reploid grumbled.

"Indeed, he's quite a useful tool, but an expendable one nonetheless." Berkana chuckled. "He thinks he can trust us just because he can't hear our thoughts."

"And what about those other high end Reploids…?" Gareth inquired of her.

"Powerful yes, I would love to have their DNA souls… A shame X is so set in his noble ways, with his inherent strength he seems like an ideal partner." Berkana sighed as she ambled about the warehouse.

"Zero and the commander of the Repliforce detachment in Area 11 seem like they are noble warriors, I would enjoy clashing blades with them in a test of skill." He admitted.

"You and your honor Gareth… Peh, I'll let you have your fun but engaging them two on one is a surefire way to end up with our defeat, we need to be cautious until you have enough DNA Souls powering you that even the four of them working in concert don't stand a chance."

"As you wish lady Berkana." Gareth conceded.

In the rafters above them, a shadowy form flickered and vanished, unnoticed by those below.

* * *

 **September 18, 2017 ATB.**

 **Unknown Location, Britannian Homeland.**

Serges leaned back in his chair and sighed, wondering what was going on before he heard footsteps behind him. "You're late, what're those two fools up to?" Serges questioned as he spun his chair around.

"They plan to siphon off the Lalinde Model's DNA soul for their own purposes via erasure." The figure informed him. "They appear to be working with a Chinese man who has a similar power to this Zero person, based on his statements I believe he can read human minds, or perhaps something close."

"Hmm…" Serges tapped his chin. "I'll have Forte go on standby until further notice, this bears keeping an eye on, especially since they'll undoubtedly go after Zero and Light's relic as well…" He noted.

The figure bowed to him. "What're your next orders?"

"Head back to Area 11, keep an eye on the situation but do _not_ act unless absolutely necessary, we're lucky you weren't spotted when you and Forte recovered Noelle's last child after Thomas's 'shining legacy' beat the snot out of her." Serges ordered as he turned back to the obscured human shaped objects lying on three operating tables, stacks of Reploid parts sitting nearby as he prepped his tools for his greatest project yet.

And his final jab at two of his old rivals.

"As you wish Doctor."

"Do not fail me Shadow Man. You're the last of the old line that I know of, and lord knows how you'd've lasted this long if I'd built you from the ground up instead refurbishing Ra Moon's work." He grumbled as Shadow Man turned to leave, the Ninja-like Reploid frowning as he remembered his long-gone 'brothers', both his fellow Kupierdroids and the other Wily Numbers.

"For their memory, I will not." He promised as he walked back to the transerver room, fading back into the shadows from which he derived his name.

* * *

 **AN: The second line Suzaku gets here is going to be telling of his change in character, he's slowly shifting away from his White Knight ethos as he deals increasingly with Liath and the reality that as a soldier, he'll have to kill people if he has no choice.**

 **That doesn't mean he's gone full Psychomurderstab McHypocrite yet, that comes later.**

 **As for how Shadow Man survived and remained operational, he's an Alien Robot designed to operate in the harsh environments of outer space twenty Millennia prior to 20XX in the Archie Timeline and he'd been offline for many centuries at least in the Amazon jungle, yet was still in remarkably good structural condition.**

 **A testament to Ra Moon's capabilities.**

 **That said this is technically his _second_ physical appearance in the story, Shadow Man having previously monitored Lelouch and C2 after their return from Lake Kawaguchi.**


	15. Stage 15: Showdown at Yokohama

**AN: And here's the where the Opening would shift.**

 **Honestly "Don't Wanna Be" From Maverick Hunter X would the OP for the rest of the X1/R1 arc if this were an anime.**

 **Also, never thought this chapter would be the one I'd upload just prior to Christmas. So have this early present, as always, reviews are helpful to figure out areas I can look to improve in both writing style and story layout.**

* * *

 **September 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Major Lofton Henderson Anglican Memorial Cemetery, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"He was a pious soul." The Anglican Pastor read out as the wind whistled through the trees and headstones of the cemetery on the fittingly overcast day as the friends and relatives of the Fenettes stood around Joseph's freshly dug resting place. "Who always looked to god in his life. And a friend to us all. To his wife, he was a devoted husband. To his child, a loving father. May he rest in peace, forever cradled in the bosom of our lord."

With that, one of the men standing astride the grave readied his shovel to bury the coffin and began to move the earth onto it.

"No! Stop!" Shirley's mother cried out as she fell to her knees, shocking the assembled mourners. "Don't bury him again please! He's suffered enough! Oh god Joseph don't leave me!" She cried as Shirley knelt down to comfort her mother.

Behind the gathering the Ashford Student council, barring Nunnally whom Lelouch hadn't wanted to come, stood somberly, with C2 hidden next to Lelouch at the back as she, Kallen and Lelouch each contemplated how many other families were having similar moments after Narita.

And how many their actions had simply wiped out entirely.

" _I may be at fault for what happened… But if Britannia had never invaded Japan… Then every last person who died at Narita and before would very much likely still be alive…"_ Lelouch thought as his rage simmered underneath his mask.

Regardless of who pulled the trigger at Narita, who gave the order, who kept Joseph from taking shelter, who even sent him there in the first place it was _all_ Britannia's fault in the end he now realized.

But it didn't mean nobody else was blameless...

And that didn't mean that the guilt went away either, it would forever remain as a stain on his soul.

Soon, the grave was covered and the mourners began to disperse, leaving only Shirley kneeling before her father's headstone, a bouquet of white flowers lying on his grave.

Eventually, Shirley stood up and walked back over to her friends, remembering something her father had told her as a little girl about love.

"Shirley… I'm so sorry that this happened." Kallen said, knowing that _she_ was the one who pulled the trigger and unleashed the mudslide that killed her father and countless others.

And to think she'd been so elated at the time that it worked.

"Oh stop. What do you have to apologize for?" Shirley asked innocently, not knowing this crucial bit of info as Kallen looked away in shame.

Lelouch put a hand on C2's shoulder discreetly as the Reploid shook a bit, eventually taking it off when she'd calmed down.

Rivalz stepped forwards to explain what he thought Kallen's reasoning was. "We feel awful Shirley! It's just that… When we were all watching the hotel jacking on TV, I thought the Black Knights were, you know, heroes, like the Maverick Hunters." He said as C2 flinched slightly. "I mean, the news was handling it all wrong… And I… I was posting online about what was happening in Narita, and I thought it was kinda cool at the time… And I'm… Forgive me…" He stammered before bowing before her, causing Suzaku and Kallen to both raise an eyebrow discreetly at the somewhat Japanese ritual of deference.

Shirley walked over to him, seemingly back to her chipper self. "Come on, don't be silly, that has absolutely nothing to do with this at all." She smiled at Rivalz as she continued. "Even I was saying Narita wa-"

Milly cut her off by putting a hand on her shoulder, concern on her face at her friend's mental state. "Shirley stop…" She said as she grabbed the ginger's other shoulder. "Seriously, I'm starting to worry about you here…" Milly's face took on a stern look. "Have you cried yet? If you simply hold it in, it'll become worse later on."

Shirley looked down slightly. "You don't have to worry… Really, I'm fine." She replied as she remembered how C2, and then Lelouch, let her use them as shoulders to cry on. "I've cried a lot."

"Those cowards!" Suzaku spat angrily as his emotions finally boiled over, causing the others to jolt slightly in surprise at the outburst. "Zero and his people, their methods are just cowardly, worse even, they're just plain _arrogant_ , like they don't even _consider_ the effects they might have on innocent lives!" He sneered as he clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.

"And the worst part is, he doesn't even get his _own_ hands dirty, he just wipes them off because all the blood stains someone _else_ instead of him! He stirs people into a frenzy, tips the world into chaos, and what does he do after it all? Does he stop and consider the _consequences_ of his actions? No! He just pats himself on the back as he watches everything burn around him!" The young man ranted as images, memories perhaps, images of a burning Tokyo viewed from the sky flickered through his mind.

" _Again with these images… Memories or just a fantastic imagination…"_ Suzaku thought, briefly interrupting his rant.

Lelouch remained silent, knowing that the worst part of it all was that his friend wasn't wrong, at least not entirely.

"It's not going to change a thing, anything gained through his kind of tactics are just meaningless, what's the point of 'liberating' a place if you burn it down in the process to give yourself a short-term advantage?!"

Suzaku fell silent after the last part of his rant as he realized what was going on around him and remembered where he was.

"Well now… I think it's time we headed back _everyone_." Milly said as she turned her nose up before looking back at Shirley again with a soft smile on her face. "Shirley, we'll be waiting for you, back in the old student council room, same as always." She promised.

Shirley nodded gently as Milly turned to the others. "Come on guys, let's go." She ordered.

Rivalz stopped in front of Lelouch noting that he and C2 hadn't said anything and had just stood there like statues. "Hey uh Lelouch?" He began before Milly roughly put him in a headlock. "Hey! What?! What'd I do?!" He asked as he was led off, both Kallen and Nina sparing Shirley a glance as they followed.

Shirley stood there and stared at Lelouch as C2 glanced between the two from behind her bangs.

Slowly but steadily the rain began to fall again.

C2 chalked it up to coincidence but felt that for the mood it couldn't possibly be anything other than fate.

"Lulu… Forgive me…" She asked as he looked up, confused now.

"What…?"

"Kissing you like that… It wasn't fair of me at all…" Shirley explained. "It was just… Something I did… Forget about it okay? I shouldn't've put you on the spot like that…" Her face turned to a smile as she looked at him again. "I'm sorry, it was totally stupid of me."

Lelouch gazed on in worry as she continued. "You _finally_ kissed me, and I can't even be happy about it…"

"Wait I!" But it was too late, she'd already turned and started running off before he could get a word in edgewise. "Shirley!"

She didn't reply and was soon gone, Lelouch and C2 standing there as the rain fell around them.

"Lelouch…" C2 said after a pause. "We should probably get going now before you get sick…"

"I… I guess you're right." He acknowledged after a moment's silence.

And everything had been going so well again before yesterday ended too...

* * *

 **September 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch sat on the couch in the study as he contemplated the course his life had taken, Shirley had finally admitted to her feelings for him but only after her father had died as a result of his orders, C2's mental stability was in flux as a result of her personal role in the man's death and the events of the previous two days had trashed the progress that had been made on getting her back to normal, meanwhile Kallen's faith in his cause may very well be shaken, and the only things he could definitely rely upon at this time were his Geass, Nemo, and the rest of his troops.

While that didn't sound bad at first, C2 and Kallen were his most powerful combat assets, thus rendering him highly vulnerable to enemy high-end Reploids or that thrice damned Lancelot.

Nemo looked between him and C2, the latter only hesitantly eating a slice of pizza as Lelouch's phone buzzed nearby.

After Shinjuku he kept it on silenced as a matter of principle, the only exception had been when Shirley had called him to say she was late.

"Do you regret it, that your friend's father was caught up in all this?" Nemo asked him after a pause.

He nodded. "Yes, I do… But in the end, the fact he was even there was Clovis's fault, had he never been involved in Code R he likely would still be alive…" Lelouch noted angrily. "At the core of it all, every single death here is the end result of Britannia's invasion of Japan."

The phone stopped buzzing as Nemo cocked her head. "I'm glad you recognize that you're not entirely at fault, I may be more carefree now but I still want you to fulfill our contract. So it's vital you don't hesitate anymore."

"I don't hesitate! I've been ready for this since the day I killed Clovis!" He snapped at her.

"And yet, you nearly lost your nerve, had C2 not told you Joseph Fenette was part of Code R, you may have even doubted yourself more thoroughly than you do now." Nemo noted as she clutched her own plush, a representation of one of Cheese-kun's family members that she'd gotten from a mailaway she'd been performing.

Lelouch frowned as he glanced at C2, whom still looked shaken by the past few days.

Eventually he turned and walked out of the room, he needed to clear his thoughts, and a warm shower would help.

"Where are you going?" Nemo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"To clear my thoughts." He replied simply as he walked out, picking up his phone and frowning as he noted he had a secure e-mail and checked it.

There was a brief glimmer of a smirk on his face as he looked at the information he'd received.

* * *

Lelouch let the warm water flow down his skin, memories flowing through his head, every doubting, nagging thought, and then there was his resolve, to fight for Nunnally, and he slowly noticed that his reasons for fighting had grown over time. What had happened to C2 was no different than what happened to his little sister.

"I see, so I can have more than one reason to fight…" He chuckled as an image filled his mind.

A white-haired man with visor sunglasses and a shit eating grin, Nunnally tied up in her wheelchair under some kind of pendulum device, possibly a bomb.

Lelouch clenched his fists reflexively as he got out of the shower. "This is no coincidence… These images, sometimes they're of Suzaku, of Nunnally, me, Kallen and the others… And that girl… Who looks like Nemo but with C2's eye and hair color… Too vivid to be sheer imagination, but it wouldn't make sense for them to be memories." Lelouch frowned as he contemplated what that meant.

"Could this have something to do with that restricted area in the homeland Cornelia talked to mother about once…" He murmured, remembering vague references to an Area N, which was under the highest restrictions the government could put it under.

And it was done in the name of public safety rather than national security to boot, a rarity in Britannia for the Imperial Government to decree restrictions in such a way.

He filed the thought for another day as he picked up his phone and dialed Ohgi's number to inform him about something Diethard had relayed, waiting for the receiving end to pick up.

["Hello?"] Ohgi asked.

"Ohgi, it's me, Zero. Meet me at the Yokohama docks with C company at 1400 hours sharp, they need their baptism by fire now that their training is completed and because A and B companies are still recovering from Narita, as for why, I learned something very important earlier that we should act upon."

* * *

 **September 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Stadtfeld Estate, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Kallen sat at her desk after having partially undressed, her stocking, belt, and tie lying on the floor with her outer dress shirt hanging on the back of her chair as she stared at two old photos, the one on the left being of herself, her mother, and Naoto before the invasion in a picture taken by her father.

She remembered that the man had stared wistfully at his own copy of that picture several times before when he was home.

The other was a picture of herself, Ohgi and Naoto taken by Tamaki after the invasion while they were out hiking.

She frowned as she looked at the image of Naoto, who'd been murdered Mavericks accusing him of being a plant just before a shootout with the Hunters when they'd raided the warehouse one of the Kozuki group's was located in.

At least, that was the story Ohgi had told her.

Still, she got justice… Shirley wouldn't get hers until both herself and Zero were dead…

" _And yet…"_

* * *

 **September 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Fenette Residence, 28th suburban residential block, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Shirley got out of taxi and walked over down the street to her house.

Watching the girl from her seat in her car, Viletta Nu narrowed her eyes and then opened the driver's side door.

* * *

 **September 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **ASEEC Building, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Suzaku listened to the chatter as he stood there in his ASEEC service uniform, looking at Lancelot's left landspinner pod and wondering if he could have saved Shirley's dad had he been stronger.

He shoved the thought aside, there was no way he could have known Zero would be so reckless and arrogant to perform such a stunt and even Lancelot was nothing against the brute force of mother nature.

He heard footsteps as Lloyd walked over. "I've got some _bad_ news Suzaku." The man said, although by his tone Suzaku knew it was anything but for the sociopathic Earl of Pudding as he turned his head to look at him. "We just got word from Cornelia's Royal Guard, we're on deck for the next operation!" He said cheerfully as it meant he was liable to get fresh data. "Acknowledging your skill or do they need another decoy?" He questioned as he trotted over to Suzaku and leaned in much too closely in his usual manner.

"Oh Lloyd?" Cecile said as she walked over with another tray of Onigiri, Suzaku secretly hoping that these didn't have some weird new ingredient in them like the last three times. "Care for another lesson in _proper_ social etiquette? You look like you have some time to kill." She said warmly, even though Suzaku knew from experience that lesson could just as easily mean beating Lloyd up until he stopped being an idiot.

He gave her a dry glare. "I'll have to take a pass on that. Now then, I believe we were talking about your mission." He continued.

* * *

 **September 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tanker VLSC** _ **Mutsu**_ **,** **Yokohama Port Concession, Area 11.**

General Katase sighed as he looked over his options.

"If Britannia attacks us at any point… We're finished, the only reason they won't is because they either wish to capture me or the Sakuradite…" He said, knowing that barring an extreme option, the core of the JLF's command structure was finished.

There was a knock at his office door. "What is it…?"

"There's a Reploid here to see you sir…"

"A Reploid, on a ship loaded with liquid Sakuradite?!" He questioned before thinking about it briefly. "Send them in."

The door opened and a clearly Maverick Reploid walked in. "What do you want?" Katase inquired.

"I've been contracted to offer this to you." He said, pulling out a large device roughly the size of a laptop.

Katase raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly is _this_?"

"A transmitter booster loaded with a broadcast variant of the Maverick Virus." The Maverick informed him as Katase shot up.

"What! Get that thing out of my sight before I-" He shouted as the Guards took aim.

"Alright, I get it, you don't want to make Britannia suffer and just go out with a whimper rather than a bang, you know that everyone on this ship is a dead man since Kyoto ceased to support you actively, so why not mark your names in the history books as the boogeymen who made Britannia remember _fear_." The Maverick said as he turned to leave, Katase pensively frowning as the guards glanced at eachother nervously.

The Maverick was right. He _was_ desperate to do _anything_ to Britannia at this stage. " _I can't afford to pass this up, if we can somehow make it to the Britannian Pacific Coast..."_

"Alright… We'll take it… Just install it wherever, and tell us how to activate it when needed." Katase finally conceded.

The Maverick smirked. "You won't regret this General."

* * *

 **Yokohama Port Concession, Area 11.**

After installing the transmitter booster and the associated equipment for it aboard the _Mutsu_ , the Maverick discreetly headed back to the designated meeting point where the cloaked figure who'd hired him was waiting.

 **="Is the job done?"=** The towering Reploid asked.

"Yeah, it's done… Where's my payment? I need to pay off these shielding upgrades you know!" The Maverick demanded.

The figure simply chuckled.. **="Your payment is the knowledge that you're aiding in the evolution of our kind."=** They said as they snapped forwards faster than the much smaller Reploid could react, tearing their head clean off at a weakpoint.

The larger Maverick promptly picked up the remains to dispose of them and headed off towards the nearest industrial trash compactor.

* * *

Towards sunset, the Black Knights convened in an empty warehouse in the Port Concession, one that was still in dire need of refurbishment.

"W… Wait a second Zero, I realize that this is a request from Kyoto and I think we can definitely handle it but… And I'm pretty sure the Japan Liberation Front would rather join with us than flee to foreign soil and all." Ohgi stammered as Zero turned to look at Diethard, whom was being held at gunpoint by several Black Knights as a precaution. "But they wouldn't do something like this!"

="You're the one who brought us this disturbing information, Diethard wasn't it?"= Zero stated as he looked at the man.

"That's right, it is an honor that you'd meet me like this Zero." The Britannian newsman said.

="So Princess Cornelia is deploying the Royal Marines to capture General Katase of the Japan Liberation front, or at least that was the plan before someone tipped off the authorities that they may be planning to transmit a modified strain of the Maverick Virus over all public channels in Area 11. Is that correct?"= Zero inquired.

"Yes, the network is already poised to broadcast a special report on it and the authorities have set up measures to mitigate the damage caused by any potential uprisings or riots." Diethard replied as if describing the weather. "However if the virus is broadcast, casualty estimates would still number at least in the **tens of thousands** according to my sources."

There were several gasps from the assembled Black Knights.

="Lieutenant Colonel Todoh will not arrive in time to save the JLF's chief commander, and even if he could it is debatable as to whether he would want to at this point if Katase is so desperate to resort to such tactics."= Zero noted.

="Which means the JLF's commanders who haven't abandoned ship so to speak have no military strength to call upon. Their only chances of escape are the liquid Sakuradite they're carrying, and the aforementioned virus."= He finished.

Ohgi stepped forwards and put his hands out to his sides. "Which is why we should help General Katase escape instead of going after Cornelia! If we help him flee to a safe haven then nobody will have to worry about the virus!"

="Ohgi. Who are we?"= Zero asked him.

"W… We're the Black Knights Zero…" He replied.

="Then we have but one task! We will destroy Cornelia's troops! And in doing so, rescue the remnants of the JLF's central command structure and save countless innocent lives from a mistake Katase is liable to make should he become cornered!"= Zero exclaimed as he stood up. ="Tonight, we regain what was _lost_ to us at Narita!"= He declared confidently.

"What're our chances?" Ohgi inquired quickly.

="Need you ask?"=

Ohgi smirked at that, knowing that meant Zero had a largely foolproof plan. "Understood." He acknowledged.

="Begin preparations, you all have your orders to carry out."= He said as he turned to walk away.

Kallen walked up to the front. "Uh, Zero…!" She said, the masked man stopping and turning to look at her.

="I have something pressing to attend to first, whatever it is, please save it for later."= He instructed her before continuing to walk away.

* * *

C2 glanced over at Zero as he approached her. "Lelouch… About the operation…"

The young man removed his mask. "Relax, you won't be playing a front-line role in the operation."

"Then why have me here at all… I'm no good to you like this…" She admitted.

He gestured at a sizable case sitting nearby. "Because you're the only one who can attach this to the underside of the freighter." He informed her as she picked it up, the Reploid noting it had a hefty weight to it.

"What is it?" C2 asked.

"It's a device that will stop the transmission of the Maverick Virus from the ship." He said, resisting the urge to wince at the untold parts of the truth. "It'll activate if it detects a certain frequency so you don't need to fiddle with it at all."

"Understood." She said as she turned to walk away, Lelouch noting how out of it she was if she didn't press him more thoroughly about the device.

He put his mask back on and went back over to the warehouse where the Black Knights were grouping up. _"I'm sorry to use you like this C2, but I can't risk Nunnally to save Katase… I might have let him live beforehand depending on whether or not it was likely he'd join us, but now…"_

He sighed as he entered the building. The show must go on after all.

At least he didn't have to haul a damn mine out into the middle of the bay by himself and _hope_ that the JLF ship went over it now.

Still, he needed to inspect it to ensure it was secure and activated… And that required a dive trip of his own.

Briefly he contemplated why he didn't just do the entire operation himself, before remembering that he wasn't nearly as strong a swimmer as Shirley or any trained diver and would potentially be dragged to the bottom by anything dense enough.

Again he cursed his own lack of athletic ability.

He would be cursing it again, this time much more thoroughly, later.

* * *

At the Britannian staging area, Suzaku looked out over the water, wondering what the view of Yokohama bay would've looked like before Britannia took over with all the ships and tugs being moved about at any given hour.

Now it was still and calm, being used largely as a support terminal for the new artificial port area being built as part of the Babylon project, after which it would be converted into a full scale naval yard to support the West Pacific Fleet and relieve the pressure on the docks at Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo, and Maizuru.

He heard footsteps as General Darlton approached him, Suzaku turning and saluting him on instinct.

"At ease Lieutenant." He told him, waiting until Suzaku had lowered his arm before continuing. "I know you're aware that the Viceroy has her reservations about using numbers in battle. But, in battle, use every able body I always say. Even if it's the son of the former Prime Minister of Japan."

Suzaku's face remained impassive despite the statement about his lineage.

"Our target is the VLSC _Mutsu_ a former Lino Kaiun Sakuradite transport vessel that is being used as the HQ for what remains of the JLF's command staff in the Kanto region." He informed Suzaku. "You're to provide supporting fire from the shore for the Royal Marine Commandos as they board the vessel and take General Katase and any other ranking JLF members prisoner, by capturing them the JLF will crumble into dust." He stated. "Additionally you have standing orders to _annihilate_ any stragglers that are left over."

Suzaku's face hardened. While it was unpleasant to suggest, that Katase was considering the Maverick Virus on innocent Reploids as a final affront to Britannia, with not one of his men trying to stop him, had somewhat changed his outlook on the operation. "Understood sir."

Darlton nodded and turned away. "Lieutenant Kururugi, I expect you will display the loyalty and conduct the crown demands of a commissioned officer in His Majesty's Armed Forces, good luck out there soldier." He said before walking off to his Gloucester's transport trailer.

Suzaku glanced back out at the harbor. _"If only things were more simple, the shades of grey are fading over everything now…"_ He thought as he sighed openly.

"Onward oh loyal soldiers… Conflicting morals am I right?" Lloyd said smugly as he peered out from the cab of the ASEEC trailer.

* * *

Using the Splash Woman dataset for its speed and stealth, C2 quietly swam closer to the _Mutsu_ 's keel using the mermaid-like tail her legs had merged into thanks to the way her VAWS system worked, wincing as the electromagnetic interference began fuzzing up her sensors.

" _I should look into getting shielded later… If we ever need to raid someplace with large amounts of sakuradite I'll be heavily impaired otherwise…"_ She thought as she closed with the bottom of the tanker and attached the device to the keel.

Stopping to double check the attachment point and make sure it was streamlined enough that the current caused by the ship moving wouldn't rip it off the hull, C2 clutched the side of one of her 'ear' antennas as she picked up a test broadcast of some kind that utterly shrieked static into her audio inputs.

" _Ugh… That was annoying."_ Shaking her head, and now satisfied with the state of the device's placement she turned and swam away from the ship, not noticing Lelouch swim past her in the murky waters of the harbor and keeping her active sonar off to avoid giving herself away.

She wouldn't understand the true significance of the transmission she picked up for some time as Sigma's test strain for the 'Zero' virus discreetly wormed its way into her systems and linked with the already implanted Maverick Virus, their codes intermeshing and melding together.

The results would be something _nobody_ expected.

Least of all Sigma.

* * *

Shirley walked through the docks, keeping a wary eye out for soldiers, security personnel or anyone else whom might spot her.

Especially the Black Knights.

Her mind wandered back to her conversation with a woman named Viletta Nu earlier that day.

"No Lulu… It can't be true, he would never get tangled up with someone like Zero…" She whispered, having tracked him roughly to the area around the Yokohama port.

"Lulu, I'm so sorry to be doubting you like this, but, please… I want to believe in you."

Unbeknownst to Shirley, Viletta Nu silently followed in her trail, hoping the girl would indeed provide a lead to Zero's identity.

" _Damnit, she lost him… If she just called me sooner I could have had him…"_ The woman thought, irritated by Shirley's indecisiveness. _"I should've grabbed the boy when I had the chance but I got impatient, now I need_ proof _to accuse him of being a terrorist… But if he talks to her, I can learn what his role is in all this…"_

" _Which is all the more important if he can manipulate minds somehow…"_ Viletta thought as she checked the safety on her sidearm. _"I won't have to die, stripped of my honor and position like Kewell… Hell, this is my chance to move_ myself _back up again, Jeremiah's honor be damned I_ have _to find a link to Zero."_

* * *

Inside the Black Knights' staging area, Lelouch sat underneath his Burai in his partially stripped off wetsuit as the door slid open slightly.

Caught off-guard he turned his head slightly. "Who's there!" He demanded as Kallen flushed a bit upon seeing Zero topless.

"Uh! I… I'm sorry!" She stammered. "I'll go…" She said and turned to walk off, Lelouch noting she didn't have a good view of his face and relaxing slightly.

"Second thoughts…?" He asked, causing her to halt in her tracks.

Kallen deflated slightly as she finally spoke her mind. "I thought the goal was justice… The only reason I fought until now was because I thought it was the right thing to do… So I could live with the killing… But now…" She turned and took a step into the warehouse, her hands splayed out to her sides slightly. "Tell me, is this real!?" She demanded. "Is what we're all doing here really going to change the world for the better!?"

"Yes it will. Or rather, it _must_ change the world." Lelouch replied without hesitation. "Narita was a misstep I admit, I got overconfident and that cost a lot of innocent people their lives… Never again will I be so arrogant." He stated grimly.

He had no doubt Nemo would have some choice words about that statement.

"But!" Kallen protested.

"Will there be sacrifices, not only just soldiers but innocent lives as well…? Yes, there always is in war. And yet, we have no choice but to continue on for a better world, no matter the cost. To do otherwise would mean all the blood shed so far is wasted on a dead dream." Lelouch said as he looked over at his mask, which laid atop a Scuba bag.

"Even if people see us as cowards, we _have_ to prevail. And if that means we must shed more blood, then so be it… And like I've said, we've already shed so much just to get here. I will _not_ let it all be in vain… But I won't force you Kallen, what you do from here on out is your own choice… If you wish to turn back _now_ is the time, any further and you'll be in too deep to leave of your own volition." He warned.

Several emotions played out on Kallen's face before she finally nodded and had a small smile grace her features. "I've made my choice. I'll follow you to the very end." She promised.

Lelouch smirked almost imperceptibly. "I'm grateful, Kallen." He said to her, the girl's eyes glimmering in response to the gesture.

That was one thing taken care of.

But a sinking feeling in his gut indicated that after this operation, C2 would likely never quite trust him again.

* * *

 **September 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Nemo walked towards the exit to the academy grounds in some clothes Lelouch had loaned to her, a frown on her face.

"You're sure he'll make his move…?" She asked a nonexistent individual. "Well if you say so…"

She sighed and looked up at the sky. "Can't even be bothered to deal with your own problems can you…" She muttered.

* * *

 **September 19, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Mao smirked as he walked through an empty park. For him, everything was falling into place, just as planned.

* * *

 **Yokohama Port Concession.**

"It's time…" Darlton noted as Knightmare troops stood at the ready.

Cornelia waved her hand out before her. "Commence the operation!"

["All amphibious units, hit the water! Dive! Dive! Dive!"] A controller ordered to the Royal Marine Portman units, which unlocked from their launch slides and slid down into the water.

["Suppression team you are cleared for category C weaponry-"]

["R unit will be covering them from the shore, careful though, we want that tanker in one piece."] Suzaku's immediate superior ordered.

"Understood, my lord." He replied as the Lancelot joined the suppression force's Sutherlands in heading towards the tanker.

["Once torpedo attack is confirmed all units go to weapons free, repeat, weapons free. Air support units are inbound to provide cover in the event of unexpected contingencies"]

An explosion ripped through the concrete gate of the flooded drydock as the Portmans blew it wide open, having launched there to avoid triggering any sonar sensors that the JLF might have.

* * *

From her position further inland Shirley watched a massive plume of water rise into the sky and then settle down, the dull sound of the explosion fading.

"Oh my god… Is there a battle here!?" She gasped in shock as a pair of OV-6s and four AV-1s flew overhead, their turbines roaring as the VTOLs headed to provide air cover for the ground and sea forces.

* * *

From his position atop a crane, Ohgi clicked his helmet's radio as he held his binoculars up to his face. "It looks like it's starting." He turned to look at the landing craft the Black Knights had commandeered. "Zero you wanna move out or what?" He asked, noting that the hydrofoil LCKMF was still docked. "Hey! Do you read me! They're closing in on the JLF! Come in!"

The roof hatch to the Landing Craft closed. [="We have to hold."=] Zero replied simply, leaving Ohgi reeling slightly. [="Cornelia moved faster than we anticipated, if we go now those ships she has blockading the port will cut us to ribbons with their deck guns as we'll be the closer target."=] He stated calmly.

Turning his head, Ohgi noticed several dark shapes dotted further out in the bay and raised his binocs towards them, sure enough a trio of what his guide book said were Britannian _John C Butler_ -class guided missile frigates plus two _Gearing_ -class guided missile destroyers were sitting further out, roughly evenly spaced as blockade vessels and with their lights off to reduce the chance of being spotted.

It had only been because of Zero warning him that he even knew to look for them and it _still_ took some time to properly ID their silhouettes using the low light setting on the binoculars.

"Damn…" He whispered as he realized that Cornelia had pulled out all the stops for this.

* * *

["Commence support fire, all units use micro-rounds only, be careful not to set off that liquid sakuradite!"]

The Sutherlands rolled up and took aim, before firing at the JLF soldiers on the deck of the _Mutsu_ , cutting them down one by one as Suzaku hesitated.

"This isn't a battle… It's just wholesale slaughter…" He mumbled, his earlier resolve crumbling in the face of watching men who couldn't defend themselves get ripped apart by superior forces.

["Lieutenant Kururugi."] Cecile said over his comms.

"Go ahead." He replied to her.

["I certainly know this must hard for you but you're a soldier, remember that."]

"Right, I understand." He acknowledged and belatedly began shooting as well.

More bodies fell off the deck of the Mutsu and into the water as C2 poked her head out from under the waves and frowned, trying to keep a low profile and avoid the Portmans as she made her way back to shore.

* * *

Inside the ship Katase slammed his fist onto his desk. "How could they have found us like this!? Where's Todoh!" He demanded.

"We can't locate him! And even then what can he do? We don't have any Knightmares left in the Tokyo region!" Major Nakamura stated as Katase snarled.

"What about Kyoto!? They said they'd at least send someone to help us!" He shouted.

"We haven't seen anyone else, it's just the Britannians! And we have no way to contact anyone! Not even Hiryuu's taskforce!"

"So they've thrown us to the wolves! Alright get us out of here then! The blockading ships don't have the balls to fire on us, not with this much Sakuradite aboard!" Katase ordered before closing his eyes and then opening them, a deadly calm falling over the room. "And if they breach the superstructure… Activate the transmitter and let the heavens forgive us."

"At once sir!"

* * *

A scrambled transmission echoed over the Lancelot's speakers. ["We surrender, please cease fire! -is is the Japanese Liberation Front I repeat, we surrender!"] A voice shouted over the radio.

"Sir, they're broadcasting a surrender message over an open channel!" Suzaku reported.

["Ignore it, it's some coward who refuses to stand and fight, look at the ship, they haven't struck their colors yet nor is the call being made under Katase's authority."] R unit's leader responded, Suzaku admitting that he had a point.

The _Mutsu_ lurched forwards and began to make a break for Tokyo Bay, and thus the open ocean. ["See, they're continuing to resist, keep firing."]

Suzaku grit his teeth. "Understood, my lord."

* * *

Shirley watched the VTOLs circle over the area as gunfire flashed in the distance, the cracks of coilguns echoing from afar as she stood there, stunned by what was occurring.

"Lulu just couldn't be a member of the Black Knights… Could he…?" She whispered, terrified into inaction now that she was hearing the sounds of combat from up close.

* * *

Ohgi snarled as he and Diethard, whom was wearing an unprotected service uniform given his non-combat status watched from atop the crane. "Ugh, damnit! It'll be too late to intervene soon, when does Zero plan to move?!" He cursed as Diethard narrowed his eyes.

"I just hope he isn't doing this to honor some childish notion of justice. There's too many lives at stake if that transmitter is the real deal." He mumbled.

* * *

The surviving JLF soldiers on the tanker's deck gasped in horror as slash harkens burst from the water and embedded into the steel of the ship's deck, the Portmans hauling themselves up to the surface and onto the ship.

"We've been boarded!" One of the soldiers shouted as he fired futilely at the amphibious warfare Knightmares.

* * *

From afar, as she hauled herself out of the water, C2 gazed in horror as the Portmans cut down the surviving JLF troops who'd remained on the deck with machine gun fire.

"What the hell is Lelouch doing!?" She hissed.

* * *

["Zero! The Portmans are boarding the ship!"] Ohgi shouted over the radio.

="I see…"= He acknowledged as he looked down at the remote in his hands. ="That leaves only one way out, they have to be careful around that precious Sakuradite after all, such volatile stuff no?"= He said as he waited for the right moment.

["Zero, if we don't hurry!"]

="Very well then, go ahead!"= He replied as he pressed the detonator switch.

 _"Forgive me for manipulating you C2..."_

* * *

Underneath the tanker, the tandem-charge anti-landship armor piercing mine fired off, blowing through the tanker's outer hull and then the now defenseless inner hull covering one of the storage bays.

The Sakuradite reacted _violently_ to the disruption and blossomed into a brilliant explosion as night suddenly turned to _day_.

The immense detonation rocked the destroyers and frigates further out, the bridge windows on the ships shattering as their upper works were stripped of any materials not bolted or welded down to the hull, turrets, superstructure, or deck and had parts of their masts bent by the force of the explosion while their gun turrets were physically rotated to face towards the Pacific by the blast.

Katase and most of the others aboard the _Mutsu_ were dead almost instantly.

The shock of the blast moved inland, the few Portmans that had been lucky enough to survive the detonation by virtue of not being close to the ship slammed back into the water while the shockwave swept away infantrymen and forced back the Knightmares and armored vehicles ashore, knocking at least one off-balance Sutherland over.

The VTOLs spun and shook as their pilots fought the sticks for control, at least one OV-6 being forced to hard land close to Shirley, the girl yelping in fright as the aircraft skidded to a halt against a shipping container.

* * *

"What in Darwin's name!?" A staggered Cornelia shouted angrily from the warehouse her main force was staging from as she watched the glowing pink mushroom cloud ascend into the sky while the light it provided faded for the most part. "Did those suicidal bastards blow up their own ship!?"

* * *

C2 scrambled back to her feet as the blast passed by her, her artificial 'hair' settling down soon after, and stared in mute horror at the rising mushroom cloud as she put two and two together.

" _No. No… Nononononononononononononononononononononononononononononono-"_ The Reploid thought as her mind turned to an utter blank.

She'd just become party to yet _another_ count of mass murder at Lelouch's behest, combined with her already fragile mental state due to the death of Shirley's father her systems simply overloaded, resulting in her already minimal defenses against intrusion being now nonexistent.

And then the completed prototype Zero virus took over.

But _not_ in the way that Sigma would've desired it to.

[ **NEW DIRECTIVE. TERMINATE ALL FURTHER HOSTILITIES WITH MINIMAL LOSS OF LIFE. ANALYZING. BRITANNIAN SURFACE NAVAL CONTINGENT. COMBAT INEFFECTIVE DUE TO BLAST DAMAGE. JLF CONTINGENT. ALL UNITS KIA. BLACK KNIGHTS CONTINGENT. 100% COMBAT EFFECTIVE. BRITANNIAN AIR AND GROUND CONTINGENTS. 80-95% COMBAT EFFECTIVE. NEW OBJECTIVE DETERMINED. ELIMINATE ALL REMAINING WEAPONS SYSTEMS ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. PRIORITIZE BRITANNIAN FORCES DUE TO RELATIVE TOTAL STRENGTH. ISOLATE. STERILIZE. OPERATE.** ] The Virus laid out over her vision.

And C2's body, as if strung up like a puppet, willingly obeyed its commands as her shattered mind let it do as it wished.

* * *

Hauling himself back to his feet and walking back over to the other end of the crane's catwalk, Ohgi watched in awe as the blast finally subsided as quickly as it came, distantly he heard civil defense sirens blare from all over the surrounding areas as the mushroom cloud billowed into the night sky while the midnight sun of the explosion faded.

[="Just what you'd expect from the JLF."=] Zero scoffed over the radio as the somewhat battered landing craft departed from its berth now that the naval forces were out of play and the air units were still recovering from the shockwave.

"Suicide?!" Ohgi breathed. "But they never mentioned…"

[="We're going to rush Cornelia's position head on! Forget _everything_ else!"=] Zero ordered. [="All that matters is achieving our goal, if you want to _avenge_ the JLF then capture Cornelia!"=] He declared passionately. [="And show them our _strength_ and _determination_!"=]

* * *

Inside the Guren, Kallen's face hardened. "Right!"

* * *

"This is like Narita all over again…" Ohgi whispered in horror as he pulled his goggles up onto his helmet.

"It's outstanding!" Diethard said with a manic glint in his eyes as he rushed the ladder and slid down, Ohgi rushing over.

"Hey! Get back here!" He ordered but didn't move to draw his pistol, only staring at Diethard as he slid down the ladder.

" _The JLF was the bait! Now with their chief commander gone and the rest scattered to the winds, the Black Knights are the top dogs in town so to speak. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book!"_ The former newsman thought as he landed at the bottom, the other Black Knight infantry watching him with confused looks on their faces.

"Where are you going!? Hey!" Ohgi demanded as he now drew his sidearm.

"I'm going to get a closer look at Zero's victory!" He shouted back, Ohgi noting the sheer _glee_ in his voice and lowered his sidearm.

"He really is a fanatic…" The 2IC of the Black Knights whispered as he glanced back across the harbor.

He watched as smoke began to rise from the direction of Cornelia's staging area.

Distantly he could hear Diethard laughing manically.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Milly and the other student Council members watched in horror as the glowing mushroom cloud rose into the sky from the Yokohama docks while the sirens began to let loose their chilling howls, more and more units shrieking like banshees as the CONELRAD system in Area 11 came online.

[" **THIS. CHANNEL. IS. NOW. UNDER. MILITARY. COMMAND. ATTENTION. ALL. CITIZENS. IN. THE. TOKYO. REGION. RADIOACTIVE. FALLOUT. DETECTED. FOR. YOUR. OWN. SAFETY. PLEASE. REMAIN. INDOORS. FOR. THE. DURATION. OF. THE. ALERT.** "] The deep and ominous pitch of the automated voice system blared over all radios and TV speakers.

* * *

 **Yokohama Port Concession, Area 11.**

One of the Sutherlands guarding the entrance to the drydock activated its factsphere sensor too late before a salvo of land attack missiles slammed into it and tore it to fragments.

["What the?! Enemy attack!?"] One of the pilots of the other two Sutherlands questioned as the hydrofoil fast assault landing craft leapt out of the water and smashed aside both machines, one unit detonating as its Yggdrasil drive ruptured and exploded.

* * *

["204 and 205, signals lost!"] Someone shouted over the radio as Suzaku and the suppression team helped the surviving Marine Corps Portmans out of the water.

["Erickson, form up with 308, provide support!"]

["All units status report! I repeat, what is your status!"]

["This - the _Samuel_ \- _Roberts_! - taking on water, - immediate aid - Yokosuka!"]

["This is Yokosuka control, support vessels en-route."]

"Why would the General kill himself so suddenly, it just doesn't make any sense…" Suzaku whispered softly to himself.

There was an explosion to his right and Suzaku glanced over at the smoke now rising from the area where the main force was.

"The main force?! Could they have used the tanker as a decoy!?" He questioned as the Lancelot's factspheres spotted the landing craft hidden in the midst of the debris and rubble as the main force's troops tried to scramble in response.

"No, they aren't this bold... Zero!" He gasped in realization.

* * *

"Mount up and form a defensive line on the double!" Darlton ordered as he ascended his Knightmare's boarding line.

"How did they know we were here!?" Cornelia hissed under her breath. "Who's attacking us!? Is it the JLF!?"

Guilford stopped next to her. "Your highness! Our remaining VTOLs report that their fire control systems have been disabled by sniper fire!"

"What!? Only a Reploid could be that… ZERO!" She snarled. "WE'RE BEING ATTACKED BY THE BLACK KNIGHTS!"

* * *

The LCKMF opened up to reveal the Knightmares being carried inside its hold.

[="Knock their Knightmares into the sea before the pilots can mount!"=] Zero ordered as the Burais and the Guren powered up.

His Burai leapt to the front from the rear of the craft. [="Guren Mark Two, you're with me!"=]

"Yes sir!" Kallen acknowledged as she followed him out of the hold, the rest of the Burais following suit and engaging the Sutherlands in combat as Zero and Kallen swept aside the initial resistance between them and Cornelia.

* * *

["Your highness! We can handle this!"] Guilford protested as Cornelia struggled to get her Gloucester online.

"Quiet!" She spat. "How many times do you think I'll allow them to _mock_ me!" She snarled as Zero's Burai rammed her Gloucester through the back wall of the warehouse.

"Ngh! I haven't even powered on!" She growled as her Gloucester finally roared to life and Zero's custom command Burai appeared on her screens.

Firing a slash harken, she tore the opposing unit's left arm clean off at the shoulder.

"Do you think you can best me in Knightmare combat!?" Cornelia shouted as she brought her assault rifle up.

Only to have a slash harken smash it out of her machine's grip.

"That new model again!?" She growled.

The Guren fired its slash harken a second time, tying up the Gloucester and locking its arms in place.

* * *

="I'll smash your hatch and drag you out myself!"= Zero snarled as he aimed his Burai's rifle at the Gloucester. ="CORNELIA!"=

As he was preparing to pull the trigger, his Knightmare's threat ID system picked up an infantry sized heat signature behind a container, Lelouch immediately tracked his gaze over to it and froze.

Instead of wearing a Britannian BDU, the newcomer was wearing an _Ashford_ girl's uniform.

" _Shirley!?"_ He realized after a moment of shock as he switched over to low-light from thermals to get a clearer picture.

There was a sudden squawk on his proximity alert sensors as the Lancelot leapt from behind a row of containers and came crashing down on him as he turned to face it.

Lelouch cried out in alarm as the Lancelot rode the Burai across the pavement a short distance like a surfboard and then jumped off.

["Zero! Your methods aren't going to change _anything_!"] Suzaku shouted over his external speakers. ["You're so caught up in your end goals that you can't _understand_ the pain you inflict on others while getting there!"] He decried.

Lelouch, infuriated by the sudden interruption, brought the Burai back up to its feet as the Lancelot charged again, repeatedly punching it in the 'gut' and sending him tumbling to the pavement once more.

[" **Zero!** "] Kallen screamed in a mix of anger and fear.

Before she could move, Cornelia had already freed herself and blocked the wave surger arm with her lance.

["This is payback for Narita!"] The Viceroy yelled over her Gloucester's speakers.

Suzaku kicked Lelouch's Burai and then smashed it over the head, sending Lelouch reeling. ="Well if it isn't the _Knight in Shining Armor_!"= He hissed, fury filling his voice.

["These are people's lives you're playing with, you're nothing but a _murderer_!"] Suzaku spat back and smashed the Lancelot's fist into the Burai's remaining arm, shattering the Fourth Gen unit's limb much to Lelouch's shock as the impact also tore off what remained of the left leg at the knee.

="Ngh! Why… Why do you keep getting in my way!"= He snarled, shaking with rage as the Lancelot stood over him with nary a scratch on it.

["Why do you keep spilling people's blood without meaning!"]

="If it wasn't for _you_!"=

["Because of _you_!"]

The Burai fired a slash harken just past the Lancelot, Lelouch hoping to use it to escape as Suzaku reloaded his assault rifle with anti-armor rounds.

The Burai shot past the Lancelot, which spun and fired the slash harken on its left forearm, disrupting Zero's momentum and sending him crashing back to the Earth for one last time, the Burai tumbling down the aisle of containers until it crashed to a halt and ejected the cockpit, which didn't get much further and tore itself open as it crashed.

* * *

From afar, Colonel Madd grinned as he spotted C2's sniper position after she'd disabled another Sutherland. "Alright girls, showtime." He ordered over a secure channel. "Go get her."

["Yes, my lord!"] Four female voices acknowledged in unison.

* * *

Over the Lancelot's sensors, Suzaku watched Zero's body fall limp in his seat after the cockpit opened.

He frowned, while some dark part of him secretly hoped Zero had been killed in the crash, he knew that he still needed to make sure as standing orders required him to be taken alive if at all possible.

"Zero, this is the end result of your actions… Your own destruction..." He whispered to himself.

["Lancelot! Behind you!"] Cornelia shouted as Suzaku turned and blocked the wave surger lunge from the Guren with his assault rifle, the weapon being destroyed as a result.

["GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!"] Kallen shouted over her speakers as the Lancelot and Guren leapt up onto a container stack to continue their life and death struggle.

* * *

From afar, C2 watched both KMFs, deciding to target their upper body limb and slash harken segments to disable both machines' offensive abilities without risking Kallen being captured and thus executed.

Or at least that was the plan that 'she' had come up with as a 40 foot container landed next to her and nearly swept her off her feet.

She stood up and stared at a Reploid clearly sharing elements of her own design, a bit taller and broader yes but she recognized key structural traits such as the Lalinde trademark cheek guards.

"'Sup." The dark 'skin'-toned Reploid greeted as she cracked her knuckles.

A leaner and shorter Reploid with paler flextanium skin darted behind C2. "Dalaque, don't play with her, we still don't know the upper limits of her power." The newcomer noted.

"Yeah yeah…" Dalaque responded as she punched C2 in the face and sent her flying, nearly knocking over the other Reploid. "Oops! Sorry Alice!"

"Idiot." The bored seeming Reploid muttered as she turned to glance at C2.

"New variables located, possible Britannian irregular units, combat potential one hundred percent. Primary objective, distract, disable, dismantle." C2 droned emotionlessly as she switched sets to the Crash Man data and fired off a salvo of crash bombs at an unprepared Dalaque, sending her flying and badly damaging her armor.

"Dalaque!" Alice shouted, showing emotion for once. "Damnit! Sancia we need support!"

["On it."]

A blast struck C2 in the back, staggering her but doing no appreciable damage.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me! Shot had no effect!" Alice radioed.

["Roger that Alice, keep Dalaque in play until Lucretia can repair her."] Sancia replied as she aimed her sniper-buster again.

"Sniper unit detected, reassigning threat levels…" C2 droned as she dodged the second shot.

Alice darted forwards, two quick boomerangs at the ready.

"Speed gear." C2 stated simply.

C2's body glowed blue and she moved faster than Alice anticipated, clothes-lining the unprepared Reploid almost immediately and sending Alice tumbling into a container as the now repaired Dalaque got up, a green beam issuing from Sancia's buster and mending her armor.

"Alright, you may be our template but you're seriously getting on my nerves!" She grumbled as she charged forwards, grabbed C2 by the leg and hurled her into a container stack at full strength, toppling the stack.

"Uh, did that get her…?" Lucretia asked nervously as Alice ambled over to them.

"Power gear."

A red glow emanated from inside the dust cloud as an immense gale force wind burst forth from the rubble and swept up all three of them and hurtled them screaming and flailing into the sea.

"Probability of local and regional level conflicts ending prematurely with minimal casualties if Zero is eliminated… One Hundred Percent… Locate, Isolate, Sterilize." She droned ominously. "Objective… Protect… Kill… Protect… Kill…"

* * *

Sancia saw the event occur and decided discretion was the better part of valor, especially since she'd last even _less_ time than the others did at close quarters.

"Colonel, I'm withdrawing. She's too strong for us and I don't know how."

["We'll adjust your output based on the new data, that system she used intrigues me, she wasn't equipped with it when Code R studied her."] Madd noted. ["That and we need to have a word about your tactics... I've heard of teenaged Chinese peasant conscripts with a mere two _weeks_ of training maintaining better unit cohesion and awareness of their enemy!"] He then barked angrily in her ear.

Sanica sighed and transervered away, three other bursts indicating the others had fled as well, leaving C2 with no real obstacles between herself and her next objective.

* * *

Shirley slowly approached the wreckage of the cockpit of Zero's Burai as the crackles of gunfire and the dull thumps of explosions echoed all around her, she walked back slightly and heard a metallic noise, looking down she spotted a handgun laying on the ground. "Is this Zero's…?" She murmured as she picked it up and flicked the safety off.

It was heavier than she realized. "So… Then with this…" She whispered as she aimed the weapon at Zero's unconscious form. "I'll repay you for my father!" She stated as she trembled only to notice Zero stir slightly and hold her fire.

The masked man's head turned slightly and his mask came partially off, revealing a young **Britannian** face with black hair. A trickle of blood rolling down his face.

" _It's still just coincidence, right?"_ She thought nervously, noting the similarities this person had to Lelouch.

Viletta smirked as she slowly approached the wreck site as well. As she did so the mask finally slid off, Shirley now realizing that it _was_ indeed Lelouch and gazing in horror as the pieces slid into place regarding his various absences and the related appearances of Zero.

Shirley stood there, aiming her gun at Lelouch's head, unable to bring herself to move as Viletta walked up. "Is that Zero?!" She inquired excitedly.

Shirley backed away slightly as Viletta stooped down and grinned as she raised Lelouch's head by the back of his hair. "Well, well, well. What a shocker, the student is Zero himself." She chuckled. "A Britannian doing all of this?" Viletta began laughing as the irony that _she_ had been responsible for Zero's rise, and now his _fall_ , came to her.

"When I bring him to Viceroy Cornelia, she'll make me a _noble_. Not just a _mere_ Knight of Honor, _real_ nobility!" She laughed as she checked Lelouch's pulse, also noticing he was still breathing. "And he's still alive... What kind of grand _execution_ do they have in store for him? I wonder if they'll be 'merciful' and consign him to Alcatraz or Devil's Island for the rest of his life, perhaps even Temple Tower. Or maybe even one of those hellhole isolation prisons in the Northern Territories." She wondered aloud as Shirley shook in fear about Lelouch's fate.

Viletta stood up and turned to face her. "Of course, you'll be amply rewarded too-" Viletta began before realizing that Shirley was pointing Zero's sidearm at _her_.

She remembered the picture's location in Shirley's ID pouch, the fact both of them were wearing Ashford uniforms, and the fact Shirley'd been so _upset_ at the implication the young man had been working with the Black Knights. "How **stupid** of me... He's your _boyfriend_ isn't he!" She hissed as she lunged at Shirley.

"Lulu!" The ginger squealed before a single gunshot rang out.

* * *

Elsewhere in the docks, the flames of battle spread as Kallen and Suzaku clashed time and time again throughout the area over the course of no less than ten minutes, sirens continuing to blare as the Britannian forces were pushed back by the Black Knights.

["Command to 401, move in to contain the enemy!"]

["All Knightmare units, Alpha Niner confirm status!"]

["Unit 903, Alpha Niner confirmed!"]

["Enemy sighted bearing seven o'clock, intercept now!"]

["Where are those tugs!? The _Perry_ is taking on water!"]

[" _Myles C. Fox_ reports able to make it back to Yokosuka under own power!"]

["This is Wombat, we're RTB for repairs at this time, cannot provide air cover."]

[" _Benner_ requests immediate damage control support! She's starting to list!"]

["This is the _Spruance_ , we're arriving on station to aid _Benner_ in damage control efforts at this time."]

["Copy that."]

More radio chatter reverberated in Suzaku's cockpit as the Lancelot and Guren stared eachother down before the latter withdrew into the smoke.

"No! Wait!" He shouted in vain as the enemy KMF vanished.

["Do not pursue! Protecting the Viceroy has _top_ priority!"] Darlton ordered as his Gloucester came to a halt next to the Lancelot, Suzaku grimacing and clenching his control sticks in response.

"Understood, my lord…" He acknowledged with a slight growl.

Already a group of transport VTOLs carrying Repliforce units and other reinforcements was arriving from the settlement proper.

With Colonel's help they'd clean these fools right up if they decided to keep fighting.

* * *

"Zero! Come in! Zero!" Ohgi chattered into his radio as he rounded a container.

["Ohgi, is that you? It's Nemo."] A female voice echoed over the channel.

"Yes, how's Zero doing?!" He asked, having been properly introduced to her by Zero after meeting Kirihara, as had Tamaki and Kallen.

["He's alive but wounded and can't move right now, order a general retreat, I spotted a number of Royal Marine Corps, Navy and Repliforce units mobilizing on my way over, they'll slaughter us if we drag this out."]

"Uh, yes I understand… Got it…" He said and cut the line as he glanced over at Diethard, whom eyed him with some confusion.

 _"Zero... Wounded?"_

* * *

Lelouch stared at his mask and frowned as Nemo walked over to him.

"Is that what you wanted?" She asked him. "This is pathetic, you're so shook up by all this that you can't even issue orders." The immortal noted as she glanced at the disabled Reploid laying on the ground nearby, Nemo having stumbled across C2 that way when she arrived. "And Cornelia will-"

He turned to her, his face stern. "Listen to me, my handgun is _missing_. Whoever has it now must have taken it from me when I was unconscious." He informed Nemo, whom realized that they had an even bigger issue than whatever was wrong with C2.

"If that's true… Then they must have seen your face." She said, voicing their mutual concern.

"There were at least two of them, one who fired, and one who got shot…" He noted, glancing down at the blood splatter on the ground. "Two…" He murmured as Nemo hefted C2 up and began to drag her off while grumbling about the Reploid's weight.

 _"That couldn't possibly have been Shirley..."_

* * *

 _"Could it?"_

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Girls Dorm.**

Tears rolled down Shirley's face as she wrote a note for her diary and then scrunched it up in her grip as tears stained the paper.

"Ngh… Shirley…?" Her roommate, Sophie Wood, asked as she sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, Shirley hiding the pistol underneath her shirt quickly. "Why are you up so early…?" She asked tiredly as she looked over at her. "Is that a letter?"

"It's a… Oh it's nothing." The ginger assured her as she glanced at her violet haired roommate.

"I bet it's a love letter isn't it… Something special for Lelouch?" Sophie asked.

Shirley glanced over at her, stunned a bit before she smiled sadly. "In a way…" She admitted.

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile Command Center, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch looked at his phone as Suzaku hung up after shouting Arthur's name several times, sounding like he was in pain.

"I wonder what's going on over there." He muttered as Nemo looked over from where she was standing.

"So then it seems like…"

"Yeah, he doesn't know about me." Lelouch finished for her. "That eliminates one group, the military, as Suzaku wouldn't have been able to keep such a natural tone if he knew I was Zero."

"Aside from them, and the Black Knights, I can't think of anyone else who would've been there." Nemo noted as C2 stirred on the long couch.

"Someone from the Japanese Liberation Front could've survived…" He posited.

"And they only stole your gun?" Nemo said in reply, trashing that theory.

Lelouch sat down on the corner couch near her. "I think I'll have Ohgi check the black market then."

Nemo let herself slump to one side and hugged her Cheese-Chan. "And the blood?"

"It'll take time to analyze… But there's something else…" He remembered. "Right before the Lancelot appeared… I picked up something on my threat ID sensors… When I switched to low light visual sensors I thought I saw Shirley there…"

"Oh, the girl who kissed you while C2 turned into a sobbing wreck not ten feet away?" Nemo taunted.

"Oh give it a rest will ya!" He snarled at her.

"Just making sure I've got the right girl lover boy." She replied tiredly. "But if she _was_ there, then there's something we need to know. And we better find out _fast_."

Lelouch grit his teeth as C2 finally came back online, her self diagnostic completing after being run by Lelouch as a precaution.

"Ugh… What happened… Where…"

"Maybe after the current interrogation is done with of course…" Nemo noted as Lelouch turned to face C2 whom sat up and rubbed her forehead and dispelled her armor.

"C2, we found you laying on the ground next to me with your buster out last night. What happened to you…?" He asked, mildly worried.

"I don't know… I can't remember anything but…" She frowned and glared at him. "The fact you tricked me into planting a bomb on the JLF's tanker." The Reploid growled as Lelouch deflated visibly, having expected this at some point.

"Why?" She asked as her voice quivered suddenly. "WHY!? YOU KNEW I WAS ALREADY ON EDGE BECAUSE OF SHIRLEY'S DAD! SO WHY SEND ME!?"

Lelouch sighed. "Because I'm a fool…" He admitted.

C2 paused briefly before her eye twitched and she laughed in an unnerving manner, much to Lelouch's concern. "A fool? A FOOL!? THAT'S NOT AN EXCUSE!" She yelled at him as Nemo glanced between the two.

The Reploid stood up, marched over to Lelouch and hauled him to his feet by his collar. "YOU SON OF A BITCH! I _TRUSTED_ YOU!"

"If you'd wanted to not be involved in the operation at all I would've accepted that! You're the one who decided to push forwards without telling me the full extent of your mental state! Moreover, who was the one who didn't even ask about the full extent of the plan!?" He snapped back, enraged at being accused of lying to her. "I could easily have done it myself!"

There was a brief pause before C2 spoke again, the tension running thick in the air as Nemo glanced between the two. "Why didn't you then…?" She asked him.

Lelouch looked off to the side, having run his mouth without thinking again, as he usually did when angry like most people would.

"You don't know do you… Did you think that the bomb could drown you, is that it?" She released her grip on him and began to laugh uncontrollably. "Or is it because _Suzaku_ was **right**?! You just don't want to get your hands any dirtier than you absolutely have to and you're just lying to yourself about it!" The Reploid said, her laughter verging on the border between the former and crying.

Lelouch reeled back as if he was struck.

"HE **WAS** RIGHT, YOU'RE JUST A COWARD MAKING OTHERS DANCE TO YOUR WHIMS! YOU'VE ALREADY GOT KALLEN WRAPPED AROUND YOUR FINGER!" C2 yelled before breaking down into tears.

"And I… I'm just a puppet… Just like her.. Because I trusted that you'd be open with me about your plans..." She cried as she fell to her knees as Lelouch unclenched his fists and stared at the emotionally unstable Reploid and then glanced away guiltily.

Nemo sighed. "You're both at fault for this…" She stated loud enough for them to hear, Lelouch glaring at her but not openly denying the accusation, before Nemo grew irritated with C2's continued crying.

"Stop being idiots, we need to find out if Shirley knows Zero's identity!" She shouted as she slammed her fist against the wall, Lelouch briefly thanking providence that the Black Knights had dispersed and that none were present in the mobile command center, snapping C2 out of her stupor.

"What…" She murmured, confused as Lelouch stared her in the eyes, a hard and serious look on his face.

"Someone stole my sidearm last night, and I woke up with my mask _removed_. Our working theory is that two people saw my face, presumably a soldier and someone we believe could be Shirley. One of them was shot and dragged away, and since Suzaku has no idea who I am we're going under the assumption that Shirley was the shooter. Equally worryingly, by association she could easily identify you as being Q2, it wouldn't be all that hard to do either since many of the times I'm absent _you_ have been as well, in addition to the obvious physical similarities that most people would normally dismiss thanks to a quirk in human psychology." Lelouch stated grimly. "This makes her a prime target for just about every intelligence agency and ner-do-well group on the _planet_ if they so much as get an _inkling_ that she has an idea who Zero is."

Horror bloomed on C2's face as she realized what was at stake. "I…"

"You didn't know… That's alright, but we have far bigger problems to worry about than who's to blame over the bombing of the JLF tanker." He told her. "Like preventing our identities from being revealed if anyone discovers Shirley potentially knows them."

C2 set her face and nodded. "Right…" She conceded. "But this _isn't_ over Lelouch." The Reploid promised.

"I never said it was." He sighed, leaning his head back in a brief moment of rest before the three of them made plans to head back to Ashford and search Shirley's room, unaware that other, less _friendly_ individuals, were closing in on her as well.

And the Virus still lurked, circling like a vulture around C2's slowly decaying sanity, ready to pounce on her yet again when given the chance.

* * *

 **AN: CONSEQUENCES, THEY ARE THE SPICE OF LIFE!**

 **On another note, yeah, Lelouch made a stupid decision, but he's still offput slightly by Shirley's dad dying and not thinking clearly at all (and also because I find the probability of Lelouch carrying anything decently heavy, especially underwater where unanticipated currents can be extremely hazardous to even experienced divers who _aren'_ _t_ lugging anything around, for extended periods of time to be laughable given his pre-noted unathletic nature due to him not really doing much physically after the invasion.) Which results in C2 starting to _openly_ question him.**

 **Or at least when the other Black Knights aren't around.**

 **This also causing her sanity to start slipping combined with both viruses.**

 **Yeah, not fun to be her right now.**

 **Also as for the description of the tanker explosion, that much Sakuradite going up would be roughly equivalent to a few thousand tons of TNT going off... Not sure how much, but big, although not quite Hiroshima big.**

 **So a small nuke (above Davy Crockett size obviously since that was only 10-20 tons of TNT at standard setting surprisingly and disturbingly enough.) basically, and likely at least equivalent to the infamous Port Chicago disaster.**

 **Of course since the ship wasn't docked when it went up the damage to everyone was relatively minimal.**

 **Similarly powerful non-nuclear blasts have occurred before, usually involving ammunition ship explosions.**

 **Also the automated broadcast was totally based on the takeover of the Black Mesa Research Facility PA system by the Military in _Black Mesa_.**


	16. Stage 16: All paths shift at Narita

**AN: Some of you might notice I changed up the chapter names a bit, I did so on a whim to make them 'pop' more for dramatic and identification effect.**

 **And yes, as one reivewer noticed, I did go for a bit of the Combine Overwatch dispatcher vibe in the Zero-virus hijacked C2, compared to her normal state it just ups the creepiness factor for anyone around her by a large degree.**

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Throne Room, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"In this last operation, and also at Narita, they were _specifically_ targeting you your highness." Darlton reported as he, Colonel, Iris and Guilford stood before Cornelia and Euphie.

"Eliminating the enemy leader is an ages old tactic." Cornelia replied. "I fail to see how this is more concerning than it should be."

"They also eliminated Prince Clovis." Guilford noted, his face impassive.

Cornelia frowned as she contemplated that, remembering again Colonel's theory that Zero may have mind controlled Clovis's guards into abandoning their posts or ignoring him, as barring them all being traitors, which was even more absurdly unlikely, it made no sense otherwise given the loyalty of said troops, whom had to a man taken serious offense to the charges of treason and dereliction of duty.

Then there was the mysterious mass suicide of one of Clovis's guard squads, largely due to the angle of the entry wounds being just under the neck, plus the analysis of the squad's Reploids had indicated they ceased functioning up to a _minute_ or so _after_ the death of the human personnel, likely ambushed and destroyed by Zero's Reploid ally given the fact that two of them had survived long enough to nearly empty their magazines into something… All of which further implied Zero's still unknown power was beyond human or Reploid comprehension.

"Zero is not merely fighting Britannia, everything we've observed so far indicates he has a deep-seated hatred of the Imperial Family and he wants _blood_." Darlton stated after a short pause, Euphie pursing her lips as she remembered Zero's words at Lake Kawaguchi.

"Hatred…?" She whispered softly as she heard Cornelia stand up and walk over to her, her elder sister gently rubbing a hand along her cheek.

"Careful Euphie, I don't want another crisis like at the hotel." Cornelia told her, her informality broadcasting her level of concern.

"At this point we cannot tolerate any further dithering on the subject of assigning Euphemia a knight Viceroy." Guilford stated plainly. "Your guard is still searching for replacements due to Narita and cannot effectively protect both the Sub-Viceroy and yourself."

"I concur, if we assign a knight to her then we can form a complete Royal Guard unit around them." Colonel noted as he crossed his arms. "And as Sub-Viceroy she also has much freer reign to pick her own personal champion."

Euphie frowned as she remembered the constant hounding Cornelia had already given her. "Very well then, I'll begin looking through every candidate, including many of _my_ choosing." She stated firmly.

Cornelia conceded that to her, she had bigger fish to fry anyways, such as the searching for the Black Knights.

Preferably before she had to inevitably end up making a list for Euphie anyways after she got sidetracked and dithered on the search _again_.

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **ASEEC Building, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"About saving people's lives… At first I thought he was just sensitive, but now… It's looking more like an obsession." Cecile worried as she watched Lloyd tap away at his keyboard. "Remember after Lake Kawaguchi? He did some kind of ritual in remembrance for each of the JLF soldiers he'd killed. The same after the recent op at Yokohama. But those are the exception so far, he's never deliberately attempted to kill anyone unless he had no other choice."

"His performance data is still solid right?" Lloyd asked as he glanced nervously at the latest oddity Cecile had cooked for him before looking up at her. "Is this a good time to put that new thing to the test with him?" He asked, referring to the new Knightmare use float system.

"We're still fine tuning it to our specifications using the Initiate." Cecile informed him, a stern look on her face. "What I'm saying is treating Suzaku like he's just another part of the machine could have serious repercussions, we better deal with the human issue first and foremost!" She scolded.

"Ah yes, I forgot that Prince Schneizel mandated we keep it around due to systems commonality, a shame that my work can't be seen by all." Lloyd muttered. "Anyways, pardon me but really, aren't you taking care of him in place of _someone_ else?" He stated, implying that Cecile was mothering him a bit too much. "He is a seventeen-year-old who's seen his fair share of _combat_ after all."

Cecile gasped in surprise. "Uhh… I'm not sure about that… But…"

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

She sighed. "You're quick to catch on to something silly aren't you…"

Lloyd chuckled mirthfully. "I'm the boss so you're stuck with me!"

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Girls Dorms, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

Sophie Wood stood outside her room under the effects of Lelouch's Geass, blocking any entrance to it by other students.

"Hey, what're you doing out here by yourself Sophie?" Another female student asked as she and a teammate from one of the girls sports teams stopped upon seeing her.

"I'm waiting." The violet haired girl replied softly. "I need to wait out here until they finish disinfecting my room." She told them.

* * *

Nemo opened Shirley's underwear drawer and pulled out a pair of panties. "You think these would fit me?" She inquired as both Lelouch and C2 glared at her.

"We're not stealing Shirley's possessions, we're just looking for anything that would indicate she knows my identity." Lelouch told her dryly. "Now put those back." He ordered.

Nemo rolled her eyes and put them down before continuing to rifle through Shirley's underwear. "Hmph, you could be doing this solo and she'd be _thrilled_ that the man she loves is going through her belongings."

"I don't think that's how that works." C2 noted with some exasperation.

"That was sarcasm." Nemo retorted as C2 gave her the finger discreetly.

"That's _my_ business anyways." Lelouch said testily as C2 picked up Shirley's diary. "Also, would you two knock it off, we have enough problems without either of you getting into pointless catfights." He instructed them.

"The last entry goes up to the fourteenth…" The Reploid noted as she opened it after sitting down on Shirley's bed, the springs creaking under the weight of her metal body.

"The Fourteenth… That's the day that her father died…" Lelouch mumbled as he fumbled with a box he was holding, a bunch of pictures featuring him and Shirley falling out of it. "What…?"

Nemo stooped down to pick up a handful of them. "They're a bunch of photos of you."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Of me?" He questioned as C2 picked up a handful of her own.

"How could our suspect be so sweet?" Nemo joked as she inspected them.

"Cut it out with the sarcasm would ya…" Lelouch told her as he glanced down and spotted a train schedule book, wondering why Shirley would've left it out.

Opening it he glanced at the page Shirley had bookmarked and looked at the day's trains.

"Narita?" He whispered. "Why go back there so soon?"

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Narita Range, Area 11.**

Heavy equipment continued working on excavating the ruins of the buried town, most of the volunteers having left over the course of the past few days as the amount of bodies recovered dropped off dramatically.

In the midst of all of this, a memorial had been rapidly fabricated by a team of Reploids near the site to commemorate the tragedy and set in a freshly built park bearing the Imperial flag set in stone to either side of the lone pathway up to it.

It was here that Shirley stood and zipped up her bag, the depressed girl deep in thought.

" _Lulu… How could you do this…?"_ She wondered.

"Yes, how could he?" An unfamiliar voice asked her as a tall lanky man she recognized as being Chinese or at least of Chinese descent wearing headphones and a pair of visor sunglasses walked up.

There was a smug grin she didn't entirely trust on the man's face as he started clapping. "A very _fine_ memorial, isn't that right miss _Shirley_ _Fenette_?" He asked, knowing her name despite her never having offered it to him.

She turned to face him fully. "W… Who…?" She stuttered in confusion.

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Tokyo Settlement Highway, Area 11.**

"Man, it was so _close_ , we had her _right there_!" Tamaki grumbled as the command staff of the Black Knights sat around in the HQ.

"Next time I'll _beat_ that White Knightmare." Kallen promised from her own seat.

"Ah don't sweat it." Yoshida chuckled jovially.

"Yeah, Tamaki got thrashed in the first minute!" Sugiyama laughed, causing many of the others to burst into Laughter at Tamaki's expense.

"Laugh it up guys, I could've gotten _killed_!" He retorted angrily.

Ohgi for his part remained deep in thought. "The JLF tanker…" He muttered, getting Kallen's attention. "Why'd it blow up?"

"They blew up the Sakuradite onboard to take some Britannians with them." Tamaki replied, not quite getting where Ohgi was going with this yet.

"But we contacted them beforehand and told them we'd rescue them." Ohgi countered.

"Yo! That's why Zero took no action! I know why, they wanted to see his face!" Tamaki said incoherently as his intoxication finally set in and started laughing.

Kallen leaned forwards and looked at Ohgi. "You're not doubting Zero again are you?" She asked, somewhat nervous.

"Well it's just that…" He began before Diethard's voice cut him off.

"Yes, it's just that the timing was too… _Convenient_ right? So what're you going to do if evidence should surface indicating that Zero was responsible?" The Britannian questioned from atop the staircase.

"What're you trying to say?" Kallen said as she stood up, glaring at Diethard.

"Yeah, Diethard, I heard you got wussy and ran off! A gutless Brit's got a _lot_ of kahunas talking trash about his superiors like that." Tamaki warned from his seat.

"I simply was getting close enough to see the action firsthand, admittedly I was perhaps a bit too hasty, but the newsman in me wanted to _see_ Zero **ripping** Cornelia from her Knightmare for himself." He explained, much to Tamaki's shock. "Besides, I was just making an assessment, that's my new job here after all. Ohgi you agreed to it too didn't you?"

Kallen turned to look at Ohgi, confused.

"Uh that's right… And Zero did approve it." Ohgi admitted. "But... Admittedly, he was justified in blowing the tanker if the reports about Katase planning to utilize the Maverick Virus against the settlement was true..." He conceded, thus ending that line of conversation.

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo-Narita new line. Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch glanced out his window, watching the buildings of the settlement pass by.

"Listen, about me taking time to change…" Nemo mumbled, the girl now wearing a modified Dirndl Lelouch had purchased for her.

"Drop it, it doesn't matter that much anyways." He informed her.

Nemo shrugged. "Anyways, do you love her?" She inquired.

"Don't know…" He replied.

"Do you hate her?" Nemo asked, C2 twitching slightly in response.

" _Don't_ know." Lelouch repeated, getting tired of repeating himself already.

"Then what're you going to do when we reach Narita?"

"I **_don't_ **know!" He snapped at her. "All we have is the possibility that she _may_ know who I am."

"And if she does know… Are you going to kill her?" Nemo inquired, C2 tensing up visibly as Lelouch looked at Nemo, stunned that she'd suggest _that_ first over simply Geassing her.

Not that the Reploid would be particularly pleased with either option.

"I was told once that if you have someone that you don't want to lose, that one should keep them at a distance." Nemo told them. "Clearly you at least partially know that, hence why you've grown distant from those around you that aren't part of your inner circle."

"Did that person learn that from experience…?" He asked as Nemo glanced out the window.

"No… For them it was a way of life." Nemo said cryptically.

* * *

 **Narita Range, Area 11.**

"He's a cruel man isn't he? That Lelouch." Mao asked Shirley as the girl took a step backwards.

"H… How do you know about Lulu?" She asked, afraid.

Mao took a couple steps forwards. "Aww, he deceived you, never told you that he's _Zero_." He taunted.

Shirley dropped her bag to the ground, now realizing that _something_ was horrendously wrong, as far as she knew only she and that Viletta woman had seen Lelouch's face underneath the mask.

And she'd _shot_ Viletta.

"Who are you… What do you want…" She stuttered in shock.

Mao took another step towards her. "The same mouth that ordered your father's death stole a kiss from your tender lips." He stated with a sort of sadistic glee. "He's a very bad man, and you _like_ it." He chuckled as Shirley recoiled visibly from him.

Mao continued walking towards her. "Punishment _must_ be measured out, to him _and_ to you."

"T… To me…?"

"I know _everything_ , all that happened that night!" He stated as Shirley's eyes widened further in horror.

"So you're a killer _too_. Just, like, Zero." Mao accused as he spread his arms.

"No… That's not true…" She denied quickly.

Mao took another step towards her, that same smug grin on his face. "And you actually used your father's _death_ for your own _gain_." He told her with a click of his tongue.

Shirley recoiled yet further as she remembered the night she'd kissed Lelouch. "N… No… I just…"

"And how you were having the time of your life, while not _ten feet_ away, one of your friends was bawling her eyes out… But why would a Reploid be so upset about your father's death… Instead of just feeling bad about it? Unless, _unless_ she was Zero's mysterious Reploid super-soldier, and _she_ was involved with your father's demise!" Mao cackled gleefully as Shirley quaked before him.

"No…! She wouldn't…! I just!" Shirley fell to her knees and began to quiver as Mao knelt next to her, watching as her mind slowly tore itself to pieces.

Mao chuckled. "Oh you're a cunning little woman aren't you? You _knew_ he'd feel sorry for you so you, didn't you? So you played it for all it was worth… Too bad he turned out to be a little more involved than you thought."

"No! You're wrong!" She cried as tears rolled down her face.

"Did his sympathy make you all tingly?" Mao crooned as he gently caressed her cheek.

"STOP IT!" She screamed.

Mao raised an eyebrow. "Playing the tragic heroine are we? Well it's a shame… Because Daddy lied to you about what he was doing, Prince Clovis made him do _terrible_ things to your friend C2." He practically spat the Reploid's name.

"What… Daddy wouldn't…" Shirley gasped in horror.

"I know _everything_ you see, she went to confront him in Narita where he was working, trying to get him to take her to the other members of the Britannian Military's Reploid Super-Soldier program, but she got caught up by some Maverick Hunters and then your boyfriend ordered a landslide to be dropped!" Mao sneered as tears rolled down Shirley's face.

"Didn't you think it was unusual that your daddy never mentioned any of his work to you, even offhand? Because he couldn't, otherwise he'd get a bullet to the head and you and your mother would join him in the grave soon after." Mao chuckled as he continued.

"He tore apart a sapient being because a Prince ordered him to. He _tortured_ your **friend** , ripped her apart and put her back together both in body _and_ mind, leaving her scarred forever. All because it was for the good of _Britannia_. He might not have felt good about it, but when does _feeling_ bad about _doing_ something bad vindicate someone?"

"No… No! NO! **NO**! DADDY WOULD **NEVER** DO THAT!" Shirley screamed in anguish as Mao stood up again, ignoring her outburst.

"But the apple doesn't fall far from the tree I guess, he raised a dreadful girl who _kills_ and goes fishing for attention, who _somehow_ thinks she gets a happy ending despite what she's done like a princess. However, only _evil_ witches do stuff like that in the fairy tales."

"I didn't… I never meant…" She sobbed.

"You _knew_ there was another girl who liked Lelouch, but _you_ wanted him all to _yourself_." He leaned down into her face. "Now you have to pay the _price_ for your misdeeds Shirley. Like all fairy tale villains do. And I _know_ you've seen enough fairy tale stories to know _exactly_ what happens to the villains in the end." He whispered menacingly. "They die, and everyone _else_ lives happily. Ever. After."

Tears rolling down her face, the ginger haired girl cried incessantly into her hands.

"Do you want to carry these feelings around for the rest of your life?" He asked her as he began clapping. "All by yourself? Unless you want to atone and _completely_ free your heart, you, your Reploid friend and Lelouch will all be lost in your sins." Mao warned as he glared down at her from behind his sunglasses. " **Forever**."

* * *

Some time later, C2, Lelouch, and Nemo inspected the area around the memorial, finding no trace of Shirley.

"I thought she'd be here…" Lelouch sighed as C2 scanned the area while Nemo crossed her arms angrily.

"We'll have to split up and look for her then." Nemo noted.

"Do you even know what Shirley _looks like_?" Lelouch snapped at her.

"Oh no, I _clearly_ didn't see her in those pictures of you." Nemo snarked as C2 headed off on her own ahead of the other two, not wanting to deal with Lelouch while he was in a mood. "What's _with_ you now?" She asked as Lelouch turned and walked away as well.

* * *

Lelouch walked through the rubble of the city that was once designated Narita-2 by Britannia, hands in his pockets.

He got a few odd looks from the soldiers and workers, but they didn't pay him much mind otherwise.

" _The chances are so slim, I doubt she's even here…"_ He thought as he walked, trying to keep his mind off of Nemo's words. _"No, wait, there was someone else there… What if Shirley had been shot as well?! No… Calm down, work from the beginning… Sophie said Shirley left for Narita early today, which means that she couldn't have been her blood…"_ His train of thought ground to a halt as his phone rang, he checked it, being surprised by the fact it was _Shirley_ calling.

Picking up, he held it to his ear. "I'm here, where are you calling from?" He asked, only to have an unfamiliar _male_ voice chuckle unnervingly in his ear.

["Where indeed." The voice said, Lelouch realizing they were _right_ behind him and spun around and spotting a clearly Chinese man standing there, noting his unusual hair color and the fact he was wearing visor sunglasses and headphones.

"WHO ARE YOU!" He demanded angrily, figuring out rapidly that whoever this person was had done _something_ to Shirley.

Mao smirked and hung up before tossing Shirley's phone at him, the device skipping across the ground gently before coming to a stop at Lelouch's feet.

Lelouch grit his teeth as he glared at Mao. "You scum! What've you done with Shirley!"

Mao began to clap again. "Oooh, I like it! The scary face! The face of a man whose woman was stolen away!" Mao quipped uncaringly as he continued clapping.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO WITH HER!?" Lelouch yelled at him, furious at the audacity of this man.

Mao lowered his hands. "If you wanna know, you'll have to accept my challenge." He held up a chess piece, a White Knight. "You specialize in _this_ don't you?" He crooned arrogantly.

* * *

C2 walked through the ruins as she looked around for Shirley, the sun slowly descending in the sky to the west. "Weird… Why does this place seem so… Eerie now…?" She whispered as she glanced around.

A group of birds took flight as she heard a muffled scream.

"Shirley!?" C2 rushed towards the location she'd approximated it to be coming from via echolocation, the Reploid bashing aside a broken door and into a ruined building.

Inside lay no less than a dozen Reploids of varying model and function, each one staring blankly off into space.

C2 froze in shock. "What in the…" She approached one of them and checked them to see if they were functional. "Everything looks fine… But nobody's home…" She whispered as she inspected the Reploid. "But why…?"

She pulled up a diagnostic panel and plugged into the Reploid only to recoil in horror as they failed to even boot up properly, the diagnostic only delivering a glowing bluescreen reading [ERROR. NO OS DATA FOUND.]. "What the…" She hissed. "Someone wiped them!?"

Behind her she heard the clanking of metal footfalls. "Perceptive…" A haughty sounding male voice announced from behind her, C2 whirling around and activating her armor, her buster up and aimed.

Gareth sneered at her. "Such a weakling to be defeated like that at Narita… And to think I had high hopes for you."

"You're responsible for this…?!" C2 snarled as Gareth gestured at the Reploids as if waving off trash.

"But of course, these pathetic fools were feeding my strength with their DNA souls, a far better usage of data than on such trivial weaklings like yourself." He stated arrogantly, the casualness of his tone sending chills down her frame.

And also royally pissing her off by exacerbating her already poor mood, which was in turn largely Lelouch's fault.

At least, that's what she told herself.

C2 didn't even hesitate, she retracted her buster cannon, activated the Impact Man dataset and _charged_ Gareth head on, back and leg mounted boosters blazing away. "I'LL SHOW YOU WEAK!" She yelled as the Knight-like Reploid leapt to the side while C2 plowed straight through the side of the building and sent the _entire_ north face of it exploding outwards with her pile bunkers.

Gareth frowned. "Perhaps I misjudged, lack of will does not equal lack of strength…" He whispered under his breath as military VTOLs began to move towards the area in response to the commotion.

He'd hoped for a more _discreet_ engagement, clearly _something_ had occurred after Mao's initial recon at Ashford that had set this Reploid into a hair trigger temper. Possibly it was related to the reported death of much of the JLF's command structure.

A spray of buster shots punctuated the thought as C2 blazed away at him with her megabuster, firing the cannon full on auto.

Gareth blocked the incoming energy fire readily with his shield. "I would've preferred a more straight up fight, but discretion is the better part of valor, therefore I shall relish taking you down a different day." He proclaimed as he transervered away, C2 lowering her arm in frustration.

She then blinked as she heard the whoop of Knightpolice sirens before beating a hasty retreat herself, hoping to find Lelouch or Nemo as she ducked into an alley and dissipated her armor.

* * *

Nemo sighed as she conversed with a random guy on a bike. "Listen, all I'm asking is if you've seen a ginger haired girl with greenish-yellow eyes in an Ashford academy uniform."

"And I'm telling you I haven't seen anyone like that! Why not go to the police or the military about it?" He asked as Nemo resisted the urge to groan.

"I'd rather not turn this into a minor crisis by getting them involved." She replied simply.

C2 hurried over to her as Nemo glanced at the tram and spotted Mao and Lelouch in it.

" _What in the…!? Oh for god's sake! Why didn't that stupid bitch warn me!"_

Almost immediately she turned back and looked at the guy on the bike. "Listen… Sorry about this." She apologized.

"Sorry about wha-" He began before she tapped him on the shoulder, her code flaring briefly as he passed out and the girl tossed him to the side before kicking the throttle on his bike as she hopped on.

"What the hell!? Nemo what're you doing!?" C2 cried out, surprised by her actions.

"SAVING LELOUCH!" She yelled back as she tore up the mountain, hopefully to intercept the tram as the Reploid glanced down at the unconscious man before chasing after Nemo.

* * *

Lelouch stared down Mao as he and the latter prepared to make their first moves on a half-cleared chessboard. _"Is he the one? Our other eye witness? No… He'd be in much worse shape if he was…"_ He made the next move by taking a pawn with one of his knights. _"I'm sure this chess game is just a ploy; his_ real _goal is to lure me to an isolated place. But what then...?"_

Mao smirked at him. "You know I've never played this game before, don't you?"

" _Calling on my mobile, was he just being theatrical? No, he didn't know what I looked like, which confirms the theory that he isn't the other witness. Nor did he have time to find a photo of me… He hasn't planned this out, he's winging it… That means-"_

"That there's an opening you can use?" Mao inquired as he cocked his head slightly. "Shouldn't you be thinking about the game a bit more? You could lose." He said as he moved his bishop to an advantageous position.

Lelouch sneered at him, although his words had left him confused. "You liar! You have played this game before!"

He then moved the Black King in response to Mao's own move.

* * *

Nemo tore up the hillside on the back of her 'borrowed' motorcycle.

" _Lelouch… Even you… No,_ because _it's you. There's no way you can defeat Mao… Not without aid at least."_ She thought as she pushed the vehicle as fast as she could make it go uphill.

C2 followed in her wake, the Reploid _sprinting_ up the side of the mountain in her armored state, leg thusters and apogee motors blazing away to increase her momentum.

The tram continued onwards without delay.

* * *

Inside the tram, Lelouch shook in horror as every _single_ move he made was accurately countered by Mao. _"_ Impossible _, he's got me trapped?!"_

Mao grinned again and chuckled as he watched the seventeen year old tremble. "So, can we just call it my game? Hmm?" He asked as the tram slid into the station and stopped, shaking the chess pieces and scattering them.

" _How could he predict every move I made…? Who is this guy!?"_ Lelouch wondered as he racked his brain, attempting to find a reason for his defeat.

"A shame that knockoff Nemo never told you about me." He sighed as Lelouch recoiled in surprise.

"Well done!" He said sarcastically as he clapped. "In one lightning moment you came up with fourteen different possible identities for me! Too bad that only one of them is even _half_ correct." Mao chuckled as he pulled down his shades slightly, revealing his Geass to Lelouch.

Lelouch gasped in shock. _"He has Geass too!"_

He called forth his own as Mao hastily covered his eyes again. "Let's see now… For your Geass you have to look _directly_ into someone's eyes for it to work, even if using a proxy such as a mirror to make said contact, untinted glass doesn't effect it, while any decent amount of tinting or indirect viewing methods such as cameras will totally nullify its effects, and Reploids of course are _totally unaffected_." He turned in his seat and smirked. "Ohoho! I know all the rules for your little gift!" The man stated smugly.

"You can read minds!" Lelouch realized, deciding that internalizing his thoughts was pointless.

"You can call my Geass mind reading I guess, in reality I'm more or less breaking down the _boundaries_ between my mind and those of others." Mao chuckled as Lelouch snapped to his feet.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO SHIRLEY?!" He demanded, through with Mao's games. "WHAT DID YOU DO!? KILL HER!?"

"Of course not." Mao crooned smugly as the aforementioned girl walked into view of the window behind him and turned to face the tram.

Lelouch gasped in shock as he spotted her. "S… Shirley!"

"So now then." Mao began as Shirley raised Lelouch's pistol up to roughly head height in some kind of trance and held it dead on at the latter. "Let the vital _punishment_ games begin!" He said as he clapped his hands once more.

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Yokohama Port Concession, Area 11.**

Ohgi stood on a dock overlooking a mass of tetrapods forming a breakwater in the harbor, mulling Diethard's theory that Zero had killed Katase and his troops.

While it was technically justified, why claim he was going to save them only to do the opposite?

"Zero, you weren't yourself yesterday…" He mused as seagulls circled overhead, waiting for the fishery ships and fishing boats to return with the day's catch. "Why do I have this feeling that your mind was elsewhere…?" He asked himself as he looked down and spotted a figure nestled among the breakwater, a trail of blood leading up to them.

He rushed down to their aid almost immediately. "Are you alright!?" He asked as he stopped down and picked the dark-skinned woman up. "Talk to me! Come on!"

She groaned slightly, much to his relief.

"You're alive!"

"S… So… You're… Zero…!" Viletta gasped before passing out again as Ohgi's eyes widened in shock.

" _She's seen Zero's face!? This is_ bad _… I can't let her get into Britannian hands otherwise the Black Knights are_ finished _…"_ He thought as he picked her up and hastily carried her off.

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Narita Range, Upper Tram Station, Area 11.**

Lelouch stood between Mao and Shirley after having been forced to exit the tram, gazing up in horror at the latter as she held his own pistol aimed at his head. "S… Shirley… That gun is…"

"Yes… It's Zero's… _Your_ gun Lulu…" She said, as if in a trance.

"Why don't you use your Geass? I'm pretty sure you haven't used it on her, right?" Mao asked smarmily as he stood there on the steps below him, hands in his coat pockets.

Lelouch grimaced at him. "Of course, if you do, I'll just shoot you _myself_." Mao told him as he pulled out his _own_ pistol and aimed it squarely at Lelouch's back, flicking the safety off in the process.

" _Can he read any thoughts, or only those on the_ surface _? Are there conditions to his Geass? A time lag, time limit!? What's he after?! If he plans to kill me then…"_ Lelouch thought, his mind racing at a mile a minute as he tried to find any way out of the situation.

Mao spread his arms out to his side and grinned smugly again. "Keep thinking about it, that's your strong point right? Thoughts spinning round and round and round!" He taunted.

Lelouch turned towards him. "SHUT UP!" He barked sharply at Mao.

"This is a fitting death, poetic justice for a thief like you, especially one who couldn't even get ahold of the _original_ instead of a pair of cheap **knockoffs**!" He chuckled, much to Lelouch's confusion.

" _Knockoffs…? What does he mean by that…?_ "

"Oh, you don't know? Well I guess I won't spoil the mystery then, you'll be too _dead_ for it to matter soon enough anyways."

"Lulu… Please... Die…" Shirley said in the same droning tone she'd been using as Lelouch turned back to her. "We'll atone for our sins… We _have_ to!" She said, this time with more emotion in her voice. "I'll die _with_ you!"

"What…?!"

"She's killed once already, she shot the person who saw your face, and then dragged off the body and dumped it before that Reploid _faker_ arrived." Mao informed him, pointing his gun at Lelouch again. "All to protect your little secret!"

Lelouch turned back to Shirley for what seemed like the umpteenth time. "Then… That blood was…"

"It's time to end this _together_." Shirley said sadly. "Lulu…"

"Yes, yes, yes. Sinners _must_ be punished!" Mao cackled as he awaited the finale of his performance.

Lelouch turned to face him again. "You put her up to all this!" Lelouch accused just before it finally hit him. _"I see, he reads her mind, making it easy for him to confuse and control her!"_

Mao began clapping again. "Yes! That's right!" He giggled with glee in his voice as his gun clattered against the palm of his hand.

The desperate formations of a plan began to take shape in Lelouch's mind as he turned back to Shirley yet again. "No! Don't let him trick you! Shirley he's just-"

"Oh come on, are you actually saying this? The guy who _lied_ to her from the _start_?" Mao asked him in sarcastic disbelief, raising an eyebrow.

Shirley recoiled slightly, pulling her arms close to her. "NO! STOP IT!" She screamed in protest.

"If murder's a sin then this only _increases_ it!" He argued. "Besides, do you honestly think Milly or anyone else will simply believe that you'd just kill me and yourself for no reason!?"

"Oh I love the rhetoric, very pithy." Mao snarked.

"Shirley, did you _really_ kill somebody, and if you did kill, was _he_ the one controlling you?!" Lelouch asked.

"Shirley pulled the trigger herself and she knows it, when you hide away your sins it only gets worse." Mao quipped.

"He's trying to confuse you Shirley!" Lelouch shouted at her as Mao stepped to the side, his Geass making him aware of what she was about to do. "Don't let him get inside your head!"

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST _SHUT UP_!" She screamed as she pulled the trigger after pointing the gun in a random direction, the round barely missing Lelouch's head as it pinged off the roof of the station.

Stunned, he stumbled backwards, the pictures he'd pocketed earlier falling out of his inner coat pocket.

Shirley opened her eyes and stared down at Lelouch and the various pictures now scattered around the platform due to his fall.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she lowered the sidearm, briefly thinking she'd actually _killed_ him.

"What are you hesitating for?!" Mao demanded, causing her to flinch. "He's the one who killed your father! Don't you know he's a sinner!? **Kill him** _ **now**_!" He ordered angrily.

"What…" She breathed as Lelouch stood back up, holding his arm due to it taking the brunt of the fall.

"Shirley…" He pleaded softly.

"I just… I don't…"

The look on Mao's face changed to one of confusion. "What the heck's up with this girl? Her thoughts are just a jumbled mess now… I can't get a read on anything with her anymore..." He slowly raised his own pistol. "I guess I'll just have to do it my-"

Another gunshot rang out, the bullet whizzing by both Mao and Lelouch and deflecting off a railing.

"STOP IT!" Shirley cried out as she aimed the gun in Mao's general direction. "JUST STOP IT!"

Mao held up a placating hand, deciding that going with plan B was better than dealing with a crazy girl he couldn't predict. "Fine, consider it stopped, you two just do whatever you want." He said as he entered the tram.

Shirley's legs gave out from the stress of it all and she fell forwards, the pistol clattering to the ground and bouncing down the steps, Lelouch barely catching her in time.

"Shirley!" He shouted as he cradled her in his arms

* * *

"What a pain… It was so dramatic and juicy… Now I'll have to kill them the old _boring_ way." Mao sighed as he pulled out an old First Pacific War era semi-auto rifle he'd hidden inside the tram and loaded the en-bloc clip into it, narrowly avoiding getting his thumb nipped by the bolt of the rifle.

The tram jerked suddenly as the doors closed. "WHO DID THAT!? WHY DIDN'T I SENSE THEM THERE!?" He gasped in surprise as it began to roll downhill. "It can't be… Those **fakes**!" He sneered as he rushed up to the upper end of the tram, spotting C2 and Nemo standing there outside the control booth, aiming their weapons at the car.

"YOU DAMN FAKES! HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOURSELVES HERE!" He snarled impotently and bashed his hands against the glass of the tram as it descended after dropping the firearm, knowing that shooting at them was utterly pointless as Nemo was immortal and he couldn't do more than scratch C2's paint with the .30-06 rounds, watching in fury as the Reploid headed over to Lelouch and Shirley whilst Nemo held her sidearm aimed at him as she watched him descend.

All the while _her_ voice praised him over his headphones.

* * *

"You owe me _big_ time for all the trouble your tight lips have caused." Nemo whispered to nobody. "Yes, I will continue to bitch about you having not dealt with him beforehand you sentimental fool."

* * *

C2 stood next to Lelouch, in full armor no less, as he comforted Shirley.

"It's alright now…" He whispered to Shirley as he knelt down in front of her. "It's over…" He cooed softly.

"Lulu… I really did kill someone…" Shirley croaked softly as C2 felt a pang of guilt for all of what had happened. "That's why I…"

In the end, she believed it was still largely her fault that Shirley's dad was dead, Lelouch could shift the blame all he wanted, but it didn't change the guilt.

Lelouch hugged her tightly. "It's because of me… It's not your fault…"

"And I shot at you with your gun…"

"And I'm still alive." He replied softly to her as C2 kept an eye on him.

Shirley grabbed at the back of his shirt. "BUT I DID IT!" She cried.

"Shirley, any sin you've committed is _mine_ to bear…" He told her gently.

"I wanted you to be kind to me…" The girl choked out.

"What's wrong with that?" Lelouch asked her.

"Even though my father died…" She squeaked. "I..."

He straightened himself and grabbed her shoulders. "Don't worry it's time to forget all the bad things that've-"

Lelouch's sentence was brutally interrupted by a loud hum as C2 charged up her buster, both Lelouch and Shirley turning to stare at her in horror as the barrel of her arm cannon glowed ominously, the muzzle now pointed squarely at Lelouch's face.

The look of pure, unadulterated, **_fury_** on her face was one he'd never seen on her before, every time she'd been mad beforehand was _nothing_ compared to how royally **pissed off** the Reploid was now.

And that's when he realized it, what he was about to do was no different than wiping a Reploid's memory, an act C2 had virtually suffered at Clovis's hands. To say she'd be offended was like claiming a Magnitude 9.0 earthquake was 'just a little shaking'.

And he became torn between saving Shirley from what had happened to her, and grievously offending of one of his closest confidantes.

"You. Don't. Just. Get. To. Do. That. Lelouch." She stated slowly and calmly as Nemo stood off to the side, frozen into inaction in her shock at the sudden turn of events. "Not after what you pulled me out of when we first met. You do **that** and I'll blow your damn head off before you can even _think_ about talking me down." She snarled. "Go through with this and you're no better than Clovis was." The Reploid spat at him.

The Virus egged her on, it's velvety tones echoing in her mind. [ _Terminate them_.] It whispered softly, urging her to recognize humanity as the great makers of conflict on Earth and that Reploids could build a peaceful world from their ashes.

And yet, her will held out, the virus conceding defeat for the moment, returning to its lurking as it once again waited for an opening.

Lelouch flinched. "But…"

"There's no buts about it damn you! You're being a selfish, _hypocritical_ , prick right now and I've already had it up to _**HERE**_ **with your crap!** " She shouted as Shirley pulled herself closer to Lelouch in fright, the latter watching a brief pang of guilt flash on C2's face as the Zero virus prepared to move in again.

"Alright, then what do you suggest we do!?" He snapped heatedly, trying to de-escalate the situation.

C2 powered down her buster and lowered her arm to her side as her hand replaced the barrel of the cannon, another brief flash of guilt on her face before it hardened, the virus receding for good this time, to wait for a more opportune moment to surge forth again. "Do you even need to ask…? She already knows more than enough, plus they can keep her safe when you and I can't." She suggested, Lelouch's expression showing what he thought of that idea.

"C2…" He hissed harshly.

"What… What is she asking me to do…?!"

"I'm suggesting we bring her into the fold, we don't have nearly enough support command personnel and god knows she'll go a long way towards reducing the levels of bigotry our troops are holding against Britannians or those of partial Britannian descent, many of them barely tolerate Diethard and Kallen as is, the amount of times I've heard the grunts mutter 'hafu' under their breath regarding her is enough to make me want to punch someone."

The 'hafu' detail was something Lelouch hadn't heard about, and he doubted Kallen had heard about it either.

Shirley's eyes widened as C2 let slip both secrets about Kallen. "Oh my god…" She gasped.

"C2!" Lelouch protested in dismay.

"Face it Lelouch, she has you outplayed, and she makes a good point." Nemo agreed as she walked up to the group.

"Of course you'd side with her." He growled under his breath.

"Shut up and take your defeat like a man Lelouch." The Reploid sighed in exasperation at his stubbornness.

He grit his teeth and glanced at Shirley. "Lulu… Why did you become Zero…?" She asked nervously.

"For Nunnally's sake." C2 answered for him, Lelouch now realizing that this was a form of payback for him manipulating her at Yokohama. "He wishes to make a world where she can live without the fear of being tossed aside like garbage by society. Everything else is just an added bonus, isn't it Lelouch?" C2 asked him with a wry smirk on her face.

He smiled softly, finally conceding defeat. "Yes, that's right…" He gently squeezed Shirley's shoulders. "Shirley…"

She turned to look at him. "W... What Lulu…?"

He hesitated briefly before saying eight fateful words that changed the course of history, even if the effects would not be apparent for some time.

* * *

 _"Do you want to join the Black Knights?"_

* * *

 **AN: Extremely short chapter here, but there's really not much I can do after that wham line that doesn't detract from its impact, plus like half of that episode ended up in the previous chapter anyways for continuity's sake.**

 **As for C2's reaction, she had her mind** _ **violated**_ **by Code R and lost all of her memories barring a scattered few. What Lelouch planned to do hits extremely close to home for her and she's already increasingly distrustful of him after Narita and Yokohama.**

 **Honestly, speaking plainly she would very possibly have snapped and killed Lelouch had he Geassed Shirley there.**

 **And that would have likely driven her even further over the edge as she'd immediately regret that impulsive decision.**

 **Of course, then the Proto-Zero Virus would ruin everything even more.**

 **In a nutshell this is also the** _ **biggest**_ **change to the CG canon** _ **so far**_ **, as C2's direct presence as a Reploid throws a wrench into everything involving Shirley after this point. And to be honest, the poor girl deserved better than what happened to her in the TV show and presumably the original compilation movies (The current trio that lead to R3 are separate from the TV canon due to Shirley surviving, despite what people want to claim). Lelouch went in with his Geass intending to make her forget everything she'd learned about him being associated with the Black Knights so she could live happily, but her mind was so screwy thanks to Mao she forgot ever** _ **meeting**_ **_him_** **.**

 **As for how she'll affect the Black Knights? Remember that it was Shirley who innocently helped Lelouch decide the fate of not only the Black Knights, but also one of the three multinational Superpowers in CG Canon.**

 **As for Mao's reactions to C2 and Nemo… Never said the** _ **original**_ **C.C. didn't still exist, C2 being a counterpart from an alternate timeline and all like the rest of the Mega Man stuff and me heavily implying Nemo is a clone of C.C. if that wasn't clear already.**

 **Confusing as hell I know but goddamn does it work better than trying to fit it in otherwise.**

 **I've planned this reveal for months honestly.**

 **Also as for how Mao knows what he knows, Gareth and Berkana are more or less directing him, hence why he's aware of Code R via Lelouch's mind due to him waiting around near Ashford and focusing his mind on a handful of individuals they shortlisted as potentially being Zero.  
**

 **Mostly because neither really fell for the psychological trap in assuming C2 and Q2 couldn't be the same individual.**

 **As for Kallen, honestly, as a half-Britannian, you'd think there would be more friction with Kallen and the Black Knights rank and file in a lot of fanfic, the Japanese as it is IRL typically have mixed feelings about half-bloods (And greatly discriminated against them during the thirties and up to the mid-forties where foreign presence suddenly became much more pronounced thanks to US occupation troops following the end of WWII), often leading to them being subject to heavy stereotyping and discrimination for not acting 'Japanese' enough.**

 **Being Half-Britannian and Half-Japanese would likely lead to some of the newer Black Knights (as of R1 since in R2 the group went multinational and the point becomes largely moot) to question whether or not she's _truly_ Japanese due to her upbringing in a Britannian household, even if her loyalty to the cause isn't in question. Which given Kallen's rejection of her Britannian identity would lead to self-doubt issues about her place in _either_ society. It's honestly a great character developing question, which few people outside Japan seem to have really thought of AFAIK.**


	17. Stage 17: Mao's Curtain Call

**AN:** **Yeah, this is the moment where Canon gets drunk, because not only does Shirley** _ **not**_ **get mind wiped, but she's also now a semi-co-conspirator with Lelouch, although not nearly to the degree that C2 and Nemo are.**

 **Usually this change happens because of decisions made in 'Lelouch gets a re-do of the series' fics. Here, it's more spontaneous rather than being forced by Mao being aware of Lelouch's experience in the previous timeline thanks to mind reading him like in another fic I've read occasionally (can't remember the name of it for the life of me).**

 **So basically she's above most of the Black Knights in terms of what she knows, but just below Nemo and C2 as she has no idea about Geass.**

 **Yet.**

 **That said, Shirley will be introduced to them** _ **after**_ **this sub-arc is concluded, there's too much at stake for Lelouch currently to do so.**

 **Plus he has to figure out how to best introduce her to the others.**

* * *

 **September 20, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Bound Express from Narita, Area 11.**

Lelouch sighed as he and his now expanded group of co-conspirators, although putting _Shirley_ down as one was being generous since she had no idea about his Geass just yet, and if he had it his way she never would for her sake, waited out the ride back to the settlement in mostly silence.

Or at least the silence after the initial and tense conversation they'd had about Mao, followed by the reveal of his true heritage as she was brought up to speed about the Black Knights.

Finally, he broke it. "So, what's the plan of action?"

C2 raised an eyebrow as she and Nemo glanced at eachother. "Probably step up patrols and look for any sign of Mao." Nemo said after a moment.

"Hmph." Lelouch huffed.

"We'll have to be careful though, since he can read clear down to someone's subconscious, he could easily blackmail any number of our troops to work against us by exposing dark secrets they have, he got lucky on the mind games with Shirley because she was emotionally unstable and confused enough to _believe_ what he was saying." Nemo added.

Lelouch glanced at Shirley, whom looked away, Lelouch feeling a pang of guilt for what the girl had gone through thanks to him.

Yet... She'd _jumped_ at the chance to join him and make a difference. Which was at odds with his adamant refusal to place her in harm's way.

"And what about the authorities, do you think he'll go to them?" He inquired.

"That woman mentioned needing proof, so clearly she couldn't just go arresting people without it." Shirley piped up.

"Good, it means that we still have time before Mao considers fabricating evidence of my identity and delivering it to the authorities. I'll have Ohgi tell our forces to keep an eye out on our turf." Lelouch replied, thankful that Shirley had provided that very important piece of information.

C2 clicked her tongue. "There was something else…"

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "What?" He inquired, curious as to what had C2 so concerned as to bring it up.

"I encountered an unknown Reploid, pretty big, as in Colonel's size, while looking around for Shirley… He'd somehow managed to steal the core programs of no less than twelve Reploids in Narita to augment his power." She informed him, much to Lelouch's displeasure.

"That doesn't seem possible, how would adding Reploid core programs increase his power output?" Lelouch questioned, naturally skeptical about this.

"…"

"C2… There's something you aren't telling us." Lelouch noted, glaring lightly at her.

The Reploid sighed. "It wasn't just the core programs… _Everything_ from these Reploids had been taken that made them anything more than empty shells… He referred to this collective grouping of programming as a 'DNA soul' for some reason, I assume it's a common term but I'll need to look it up to be sure."

Shirley cocked her head. "Wait… So he's stealing Reploid souls? You mean like how in a lot of horror fantasy movies and novels all of those weird occult groups or dark mages steal souls from random people to increase their powers or offer them as sacrifices to demonic presences in exchange for power or favors?" She asked.

That _immediately_ had the other three seeing the situation in a new and far more disturbing light. "Oh dear god…" C2 whispered in horror.

"Yeah… Whatever they're doing just got a whole lot more dangerous in that context, since this is probably the Reploid equivalent of human sacrifices to dark gods." Nemo said, frowning as she rubbed her chin. "If they have some kind of equipment that can convert these DNA souls to raw power…"

"Sacrifice enough Reploids and you could be a one-machine army…" Lelouch finished for her. "In a way this is just a _horrendously_ twisted extension of Social Darwinism. The only question is does it have any drawbacks beyond the obvious…" He wondered aloud, wheels turning in his head as he considered the possibilities that this process had weaknesses he could exploit if necessary.

"Should we inform the Maverick Hunters…?" Shirley inquired, only to meet a unanimous no.

"We can't, not after I blew the front off the building I was in… That said, I may have forced whoever is responsible to either up their timetable or to act more cautiously since the Military and Law Enforcement likely know something's up by now." C2 admitted. "Besides, we can't risk them looking into why we were walking around in Narita in the first place."

Shirley sighed and nodded.

"Now… Nemo… I want to know, why did Mao call you and C2 'fakes'?" Lelouch asked, causing Nemo to freeze as C2 and Shirley looked at her in confusion.

She sighed. "That's a story you have no right to hear just yet."

Lelouch slammed his fist on the arm of his chair. "LIKE HELL I DON'T! YOU SAW WHAT HE DID TO SHIRLEY BECAUSE OF THAT AND THAT _ALONE_! WHAT IF HE GOES AFTER NUNNALLY OR THE COUNCIL!?" He shouted angrily, Shirley flinching slightly at the outburst, having never seen Lelouch like this before, his few minor outbursts prior seeming like irritation now rather than genuine anger.

"You don't have a right to that story because it's not _mine_ to tell, all I can tell you is that I'm a clone of the girl he's looking for." Nemo replied heatedly as Shirley and C2 glanced at eachother nervously.

"And that girl has C2's hair and eye color, doesn't she?" He questioned, Nemo nodding slowly to confirm.

"I see then, do you have any idea where this person could be?" Lelouch asked after calming himself.

"No." She said almost immediately.

"I see… C2."

The Reploid jolted back to attention, having been lost in thought. "Yes?"

"I want you to keep a close eye on Nunnally and the Council when they're on campus for me when you're not watching Shirley, we can't launch any operations while Mao is at large, otherwise while I'm off gallivanting around as Zero he could strike directly at them, my weakest links…" Lelouch informed her, closing his eyes as Shirley gasped.

"I understand." The Reploid stated.

"Mao can't detect you with his Geass, and some of your modes are well suited for sniffing out hidden opponents."

"I _understand_ Lelouch, quit treating me like I'm an invalid." The Reploid retorted, glaring at him.

He sighed. "Alright, I'm just tense is all."

"We all are, this fucker needs to go down." C2 replied. "Before anyone _else_ gets hurt by his schemes."

* * *

 **September 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Warehouse district, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"HE DIDN'T KNOW A THING!" Mao screamed as he paced around in a circle while an increasingly irate Gareth watched, only Berkana's orders keeping him from slaying the annoyance where he stood.

"That isn't our problem… But don't you think that maybe you're barking up the wrong tree?" Berkana stated calmly as she walked in.

Mao stopped and turned to her. "What do you mean by that?"

"If the contractor doesn't know where she is… Perhaps the individual _cloned_ from her does?" She theorized, Mao grinning madly as he spread his arms.

"OF COURSE! HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID!?" He cackled with mad glee. "Thank you Berkana! I'll get on this lead right away!" He said as he rushed out of the building as Gareth marched over to his mistress.

"Lady Berkana… Is letting him do this wise…?"

"Zero will focus on this nutjob while we work, we're simply an unknown factor that they've encountered but once. Him… He threatens the very _foundation_ of the Black Knights. Who do you think they'll go after first?" She inquired as Gareth nodded in understanding.

"I see, astute as always Lady Berkana."

"And I'm coming up with the perfect plan too." She said as Gareth nodded at her and marched off.

Berkana smirked as she imagined the raw power of C2's DNA soul flowing through her systems.

* * *

 **September 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch sipped his tea as he checked the news on his laptop for any sign of Mao's activities, finding nothing before switching over to social media and glancing at several posts talking about a 'Crazy Chinese guy screaming in a library'. _"Hmph, so Mao is on the move… But why? And who exactly is this 'original' he went on about…?"_

Across the table from him, Nunnally put her own cup on its dish and smiled warmly at him. "It's been a long time since we've spent time by ourselves huh?" She asked him.

He looked up at her. "Even Sayoko and C2 need some time off now and again." He told her.

Admittedly C2 was keeping a watch on Shirley at the moment but he digressed.

He looked down at the laptop switched over to the security feeds around the clubhouse, checking them again and looking for any alerts.

Aside from Arthur pawing at the door to his room again he'd gotten nothing new popping up on either the live feed or the logged footage. "Starting today, I'm staying home for a while." He told her. _"At least until Mao is dealt with."_ He added mentally.

Nunnally cocked her head slightly. "Lately you've been out of the house so much I've been curious, have you found some really fun game to play or something?" The girl asked.

"Sort of." Lelouch replied to his sister. _"Although, I'd hardly call leading a revolution either fun_ or _a game."_ He thought briefly. "My current opponent's pretty hard to beat." He continued before frowning as he saw Nemo staring into camera J, the girl not even _blinking_.

Nunnally giggled. "That's funny, only going up against our big brother Schneizel would make you say something like that."

Lelouch frowned, mentally noting how correct she was.

* * *

 **September 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Van Graf Arms, Tokyo Settlement Area 11.**

The store owner continued cleaning a long rifle as he explained to Mao _why_ he couldn't sell him a semi-auto pistol. "Without a permit I can't sell you one, it's illegal, besides you're a non-citizen from the Chinese Federation aren't you? So you can't even apply for one anyways."

"Uh… True, but you still sell to the _Black Knights_." Mao said, grinning devilishly as the man broke into a cold sweat.

"Your last sale to them was… Last Tuesday, at around twenty-three hundred hours. I'm just gonna skip rattling off the parts and batteries you sold for each type of gun because it'd get tedious. So that makes... Fourteen crates of 5.56mm ammo, six crates of Colt AR-15 assault rifles, all illegally modified for full automatic firing, two crates of Browning 1911 platform coilpistols, a half dozen crates of .45 pistol ammo, seven Colt .357 magnum coil revolvers specially made for officers…" Mao sighed and paused to take a breath before continuing.

"Four cases of .357 magnum ammo, two dozen refurbished M1D Sniper Rifles with scopes, eight crates of 7.62mm ammo, including AP and Hollowpoint rounds, two crates of Remington 870 shotguns, fourteen crates of 12 gauge ammo, including buckshot, slug, birdshot, flares, flechette, and all sorts of custom loaded round types really… Ooh you really gave them a lot of nasty stuff for those shotguns didn't you?" Mao chuckled after rattling off the last order. "Your contact whom purchased all of this was named 'Wolf', an alias of course."

The gun store owner turned his head to stare in horror at Mao as he trembled. "Who… Who are you!?"

"Knowing that I know this… You _will_ kindly accommodate me, won't you now?" He said as he leaned into the man's face and pulled down his shades slightly. "It would be a _shame_ if the authorities were to find out about this after all."

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch clicked his pen a couple times after hearing Nemo explain why she thought he was being an idiot. "And…? If I'd wanted to get lectured about my failings I'd have just called C2 and Shirley over and listened to the former." He stated, knowing that Yokohama had left a palpable and growing rift between him and her.

They still tolerated eachother for the most part, if only for the sake of Nunnally and the Rebellion.

"You want to protect your sister right…? Sitting around here isn't the way to do it, you need to be proactive."

"I've got the Black Knights hunting for him, they already know he's a serious threat to our organization."

"And how did you explain his Geass?" Nemo asked, knowing that Lelouch was treading on thin ground with that one.

"I didn't, it's too risky to explain to them. If anything letting them think he's a crazed psychopath, which he is, is the preferable course of action."

"And if he's not in the Ghettos like you think? And he's just walking around in the Settlement? He undoubtedly has a passport and with his Geass, by focusing just enough he can Blackmail all sorts of people into doing what he wishes. You'd have wasted all that time when you can just use me as bait. He'll undoubtedly realize that either I know where the person he's looking for is or figure that by attacking me he can lure them out into the open." Nemo noted rather hastily for Lelouch's liking.

"I'm not using you as bait, nor am I using C2, I've made enough mistakes over the past week or so by abusing her trust." He replied bitterly.

"But _I'm_ Mao's target, not her, and I can simply say it's my idea, so just-"

Lelouch turned away. "I've been meaning to ask, if I keep using my Geass, will I end up just like Mao? Unable to control it?!" He demanded rather harshly, and thus interrupting her.

Nemo stiffened as Lelouch rapidly clicked his pen again to release some of the tension he had building up in him. "Or did he end up the way he is because he didn't fulfil the contract he made to this other person?"

Nemo looked down. "The more you use your Geass, the more powerful it becomes… Those who cannot control this power are ultimately ravaged and consumed by it…" She replied after a moment.

He turned back to look at her, his face accusatory. "And even though you knew this you never told me?! You still offered this contract to me!?"

Nemo glared at him. " _You're_ the one who agreed to our contract without asking about the fine print." She retorted, causing Lelouch to sneer in anger. "But you're right… I still offered it to you knowing the risks… Because if I _hadn't_ , you'd be **dead** right now. But regardless, you're my first contractor… The person I'm based on has had dozens, _hundreds_ over the course of her life."

That took the wind out of Lelouch's sails briefly. While he could easily argue that C2 might've saved him, she'd been rebooting her systems one by one at the time and likely would've only acted _after_ he'd been shot. "Whoever made this contract with him is a _monster_ then. When Mao couldn't fulfill their contract they just dumped him aside like garbage, and didn't even bother removing his power or just _killing him_ , it would've been a tender mercy given what he's become… But because they didn't, he harmed Shirley!" Lelouch yelled as he swept the chessboard he'd had clean, knocking the pieces to the ground as Nemo recoiled slightly at the uncharacteristic outburst.

"We should split up while we're dealing with Mao… Starting today I'm staying in the next hall." She said as she stood up.

Lelouch sat down, resting his face in one of his hands. "You can't, the student council and the culture club meet there." He protested meekly.

"I don't care… You work it out." She replied as she walked out, leaving Lelouch to stew in his thoughts and rage.

* * *

 **September 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Swimming Center, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Shirley sighed as she swam along in the pool while C2 watched from the side, the Reploid's metal feet stirring the water around her leg plates.

"You can get in it's fine…" The Ginger said for the umpteenth time.

"I've told you repeatedly Shirley, I don't have ballast tanks normally and I'm nowhere near buoyant in this state, I'd sink like a rock in anything deeper than shallow water." The Reploid said, again.

Shirley swam over to where C2 was and rested her head on the poolside. "Then we can go I guess… Swimming's boring now…"

"You mean it's not taking your mind off of Mao or Lelouch…"

The Ginger grunted in affirmation.

"Alright then… Might as well go plan a way to introduce you to Kallen in my other persona… Or something, I'm just bored as shit and _really_ don't want to deal with whatever pissy issues Lelouch is undoubtedly having at the moment."

"What's up with you two… You've been like really hostile to eachother since that night at the docks…"

"He tricked me into planting a bomb while I was already unstable given my role in 'you know what'… Blew up a tanker loaded with Sakuradite..." C2 sighed before continuing. "Admittedly the JLF had gone off the deep end by planting a transmitter loaded with a broadcast Maverick Virus on their own ship… But… He deliberately took every chance he could to delay saving them… He _wanted_ them dead not just because of that, but because they were a possible political threat to him." She explained.

"But… Why would Lulu do that?!"

"I like to think that it's in his blood… Remember, he explained that he's an exiled Prince you know. He's just as ruthless as Cornelia or Schneizel or any of the other notable Princes and Princesses aside from Nunnally, Odysseus or Euphemia. I don't even want to imagine what depravities he'd resort to if someone had killed Nunnally when he was younger…"

That sent a chill down both their spines, C2 had explained rather quickly to Shirley some time earlier that she _believed_ Nunnally was just about the only factor at the moment stopping Lelouch from committing horrific atrocities on Britannian forces, aside from Suzaku being caught up in their ranks of course, although the Student Council was perhaps another that he wasn't willing to admit to at this moment.

A Lelouch who'd never met them _and_ had Nunnally killed before his eyes was something neither wished to consider for very long, that entity would very likely be an empty, wrathful creature who craved the blood of those who'd wronged him...

And would stop at nothing to _spill_ said blood.

As flawed as Lelouch was right now, C2 knew that the alternative she'd just mentioned would've very likely treated her as nothing more than a weapon of mass destruction that'd obey his every command.

"Maybe we should change the subject…" Shirley proposed after a moment.

"Agreed…"

Shirley cocked her head as she contemplated the next subject. "So, you've been going on dates… With whom?"

C2 froze, she was unused to 'girl talk' as it was, usually listening like Nina while Shirley, Kallen, and Milly gossiped, although Kallen seemed to do so only reluctantly.

"Well… Err, he's a Maverick Hunter…" She admitted, Shirley's eyes widening a bit. "Don't worry, he doesn't know."

"So what's his name…?"

"X…" She whispered softly with a blush on her face as Shirley gave her a look that one reserved for spotting insanely unusual things like the time she'd seen Milly force Rivalz to ride a unicycle to chase down Suzaku shortly after the Hotel crisis.

Suzaku had easily escaped repeatedly until Milly had just given up an ordered him to dress up as a cat.

"Wait… You're dating one of the pre-eminent Maverick Hunter field operatives and the template of all Reploids!?"

C2 hissed for her to quiet down, lest Milly hear via her network of cameras. "It's nothing too serious, just a couple dates." The Reploid replied.

"But wait… You're a Reploid, and X is a Reploid…"

C2 shook her head. "We're not Reploids, both X and I predate them by about the same timeframe… Besides it doesn't work like that for us anyways due to a total lack of genetics."

"Wait… That means…"

"Yeah, I'm physically at least a hundred years old if Dr. Cain's analysis of the lab he found X in is any indication." C2 replied nonchalantly as Shirley put a weird expression on her face. "Oh don't give me that look, I was deactivated until… About five or so years ago."

"No, it's not that… It's just, ya know, most people didn't _know_ what robots or Reploids even _were_ a hundred years ago… Plus I'm pretty sure we'd know about a society that could make machines like you… So either they re-wrote the history books, which is pretty unlikely since that kind of tech couldn't possibly have existed during that era, or…"

"Something else is at play." C2 finished for her.

Both sat in an unnerving silence as they contemplated this.

* * *

 **September 21, 2017 ATB.**

 **ASEEC Building, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"A medical checkup?" Suzaku asked as he slipped on his Ashford jacket, turning to look at Cecile as a pair of techs, one Reploid and one human, performed some final checks on Lancelot before they went home.

"Just regulations, it's required for all Knightmare pilots." Cecile informed him.

Suzaku nodded. "I understand."

Cecile smiled softly. "Good, it'll be tomorrow then, after school gets out for you."

"Right, thanks." He began walking down the steps of the boarding gantry before stopping after remembering something Nina had asked him about. "Oh, Miss Cecile, do you know of any way I can get in to see Princess Euphemia?"

That took Cecile for a loop. "Huh? You want to meet her?"

"It's for a friend of mine." Suzaku clarified.

Lloyd chuckled. "You'd have to be at _least_ a Knight of Honor to request an audience with her, although given that you're effectively the Executrix's squire in all but official name I suppose you could posit the request through her if you feel bold enough." He said.

Suzaku frowned, remembering his last sparring match with Liath after Narita.

And how she'd upped the ante again by tossing a _support column_ into the Lancelot to force him back.

"I'd rather not bother her with such an inane request, she is a busy woman after all." Suzaku replied.

"Well an _Earl_ could arrange it if he really wanted to." Cecile said, causing Lloyd to glance at her.

"Who _me_?" A bemused looking Lloyd asked.

Suzaku blinked, remembering now that despite his eccentricities, Lloyd was still a member of the nobility, mostly to keep him working for ASEEC, and thus Britannia, rather than from any familial connections.

He'd been more than shocked when he'd discovered that fact via Liath and Colonel, although given his direct line to the Second Prince, he'd figured it made more than enough sense.

"Yes, well, Princess Cornelia isn't quite fond of me for obvious reasons… A stickler for discipline that woman… But it wouldn't hurt to try." He conceded.

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"It would only be for a few days… If you could keep the clubhouse off limits that would really help out." Lelouch asked Milly as he and the latter discussed the issue of privacy discreetly.

"Well, it's not like I _can't_ do it, but…" She conceded, her face suddenly hardening. "Say, did someone find out you're a prince?" She hissed under her breath.

"Hopefully that secret's still safe." He replied candidly. "Only your family and Dr Cain know I'm still here and still alive." He confirmed.

"The all-knowing Ashfords…" Milly sighed wistfully.

Lelouch looked up. "Is something wrong?"

Milly sighed again and gazed at the sky. "Oh Lelouch… They've got another blind date set up for me… I may not be able to rig a lot of this one…" She admitted, surprising him. "What do you think I should do about it…?" She asked.

Lelouch frowned, unsure as to what the best course of action would be, while a strategic and tactical genius in warfare, navigating the battlefields of romance was something he was admittedly clueless at.

Although one had to have the motivation to do so in the first place.

"Well… That is…" He began, Nemo having informed him that Milly obviously harbored feelings for him and leaving him somewhat unsure as to what to do.

Not that he hadn't noticed them himself in the first place, it was just that they were an unnecessary distraction from his end goals.

"Madame President! Lulu!" Shirley called out as she jogged over with and exasperated C2 in tow, distracting them both and giving Lelouch an out from the awkward conversation.

Milly turned to the Ginger. "Shirley! Were you back at morning practice?" She asked.

"Yeah, it just started up again today." The girl replied as C2 walked over to Lelouch's side, the Reploid twitching her head almost imperceptibly to inform him that Mao hadn't moved against the girl while he wasn't around. "Can't stay sad forever." Shirley told Milly.

Milly giggled at her. "I should take some lessons from you on positive thinking!" She said as Lelouch looked down slightly, some dark part of his mind telling him that Shirley would've been better off never stepping into his world.

"What're you talking about?! You're way more positive than I am!" Shirley stated as she glanced over at Lelouch briefly, saying nothing that could give him away. "Well anyways, I have class to get to!" She said as she turned and rushed off, C2 following after her.

"Say, Lelouch… Why is C2 following Shirley?" Milly asked him.

He grimaced as he looked at Milly. "There was an incident shortly after the funeral, someone began stalking her for reasons I can't comprehend, maybe they just became obsessed with her following the hotel jacking, either way C2 drove them off and I'm having her protect Shirley until I can get enough evidence to go to the police about it without revealing my identity." He stated, giving Milly enough truth to throw her off.

The blond visibly recoiled. "What kind of sicko…"

"Some psychopath, not sure who he was really."

"I'll have security keep an eye out for him… What does he look like?" She inquired.

"A tall, white haired Chinese man, wears visor sunglasses and headphones all the time, he knows how to use firearms somewhat skillfully so tell them to be careful."

Milly winced. "Right… I'll go tell Grandfather to put an alert out for this person and have some of the Reploid security guards keep an eye on Shirley." She said as she walked off.

Lelouch sighed again and leaned his head back.

At least C2 was free from having to watch her now.

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

There was a dull thump as a Britannian man hit the ground, unconscious.

Nemo spun while kicking her left leg up and pinned the other man to the wall by his throat using her foot. "I'm _not_ looking for a damn Refrain deal! I said I'm looking for a Chinese guy named Mao, White Hair, visor sunglasses, pretty hard to forget. Did you not hear me or are you just stupid?!" She snarled, growing impatient with the repeated inability of anyone to answer her inquests beyond 'go to x group about it'.

"Believe me… I don't know… The only Chinese around here outside tourists are the drug pushers and gang laborers… Go ask the cops or something…" He choked out as Nemo increased the pressure on his throat slightly, the last thing she needed was to kill him and get the police after her.

"I don't particularly trust or like the morons running the settlement's police department." She replied flatly as she slightly increased the pressure on his throat, not nearly enough to collapse it, but enough to cut off the airflow a bit more.

"Then why don't you ask the Black Knights, they're wired into the underground, the settlement, the ghettos, everything…" He wheezed.

"Everyone just tells me the same damn thing, if I'd figured they could've helped, don't you think I would've asked them dumbass?" Nemo sneered angrily as she let the man go and then socked him in the face, knocking him out cold and catching his unconscious body as she checked him for a pulse and to see if he was breathing.

"Still alive, and nobody'll ever believe someone like me managed to beat him up. Less messy than killing him too…" She snorted. "Oh shut the fuck up, you're a bull in a damn China shop whenever you actually get riled up, you'd probably have killed at least one of them." She said to nobody in particular as she pulled out a burner phone and dialed an emergency number.

["911 what's your emergency?"] The operator asked.

"I've found two unconscious men in an alley between Patton and Bradley, they need medical attention. I think they got mugged." She told the operator as she glanced down at them.

["Alright, Officers and Paramedics are en-route to your location, please stay put until they arrive."]

"Thank you." Nemo said as she hung up and then walked out of the alley after stealing the physical currency that both men were carrying.

By the time emergency services arrived she was long gone.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 stretched a bit as she walked back to the Clubhouse, with a pair of security Reploids now watching over Shirley, she was free to more thoroughly investigate whoever that unusual Reploid was.

"Going somewhere?" A disturbingly familiar voice asked as she stopped dead in her tracks.

The verdant haired Reploid turned to see Gareth and Mao standing there, the latter holding an EM shock pistol, of the type intended for law Enforcement to use to disable Reploids temporarily.

"How!?" She gasped in horror, stunned into brief inaction.

"Ah ah ah! Can't have you going battle mode on us!" Mao giggled as he pulled the trigger.

Sparks danced over C2's body as she crashed to the ground and her eyes dimmed.

"Remember the plan, we lure in Lelouch and Nemo, and _then_ you get her DNA soul." He told Gareth, whom simply glared at him.

"I am no fool, don't remind me of such trivial things again." Gareth shot back as he picked up the limp C2.

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Shinjuku Ghetto, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Right, I'm sorry Zero but we've still got nothing on this Mao guy." Inoue apologized as she and Tamaki looked over the map of their area of influence. "Should we check with our contacts in Kyoto's network?"

["No, just stay with the Kanto block for now, let me know if you get any leads."] Lelouch replied.

"Yes, will do." Inoue replied.

["Alright, I'll get back to you."]

Tamaki glanced at Inoue. "Is Zero being real about that crazy Chinese guy?" He asked her.

Inoue shrugged in response. "I'm not sure, but Zero isn't the type to lie about things this serious, especially if he's sending a notice to all of us to be on the lookout."

Tamaki simply grunted in acknowledgement as he opened a newspaper and looked at a headline stating that the _entire_ Soviet Pacific Fleet had set to sea on the Soviet Union's largest Far East exercise in years. "The world's making less and less sense with each day..."

"Don't I know it..."

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Student Council Clubhouse, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch hung up and walked back up the stairs towards his and Nunnally's shared residence, idly he noted that C2 was overdue for a report.

"If I get within 500 meters of Mao, he can read my mind…" Lelouch whispered to himself. "It's what he wants, but knowing that I should be able to guess his next move…" He stopped and contorted his face into a snarl. "I could put him in check if I just had one-"

"Missing piece?" Nemo finished for him as she walked down the upper stairwell opposite him. "You and I are thinking exactly the same thing Lelouch." She stated calmly as he turned to face her.

"So it seems…" Lelouch replied.

"Then we should work together on this, otherwise Mao's going to keep making us _both_ look like idiots. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I do…" He acknowledged as his phone began to ring, causing him to raise an eyebrow as he'd thought he'd left the thing on silent.

He hit answer. "Yes?"

["It's me _Lulu_."] Mao taunted gleefully. ["Nemo's there too isn't she? I want to talk to her about making a little _trade_."] He cackled as Lelouch's hackles rose.

"What the hell did you do to Shirley!?" He snarled as Nemo immediately went on edge.

["Oh calm yourself, Shirley's fine… You'll find her safe and sound in her room. I'm just offering you a deal, one fake for _another_."] He giggled psychotically as Lelouch's eyes widened.

"C2…" He whispered in horror, realizing what Mao meant.

 _"No wonder she never showed up for dinner..."_

["Don't you dare speak that name when referring to this _tin-can fake_!"] Mao yelled into his ear before being torn away from the phone as an unfamiliar male voice took over.

["Put it on speaker."] They ordered.

Lelouch obliged him reluctantly and held the phone out so Nemo could hear.

["Nemo is to meet us at Clovisland within the hour… Alone. If we see _anyone_ else come with her, I'm taking your little 'assistant's' DNA soul."] Gareth warned him as the line went dead.

Nemo turned and began to head down the stairs. "Nemo! Wait!"

"Lelouch… I can't just let C2 die like this, it's my fault she's in this situation…" She stated calmly.

"They're lying! What if they just kill her anyways!?" He hissed as Nemo turned her head to look up at him.

"Hmph."

"It's a trap, and you know it!" He said, beginning to plead with her.

He'd already almost lost Shirley to this madness, and now C2's life was on the line.

"Lelouch… I trust you to do something to save the both of us then." She told him simply, stunning him as she walked out. "So I'm calling in one of the favors you owe me." Nemo said as she vanished out the door before he could even consider using his Geass in what would admittedly be a futile gesture.

"Trust… Me…?" He whispered.

And then the wheels of his mind began turning again, a wry smirk on his face as he remembered the basic layout and location of Clovisland.

And the wording that other individual had used.

"Hmph, idiot, gave away his own location…" Lelouch mused as he began to come up with a plan.

Risky yes, but... Well he had some connections.

And whatever those couldn't get, his Geass _could_.

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Kaname Ohgi's Residence, Shinjuku Ghetto, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.]**

Viletta's eyes opened as she finally regained consciousness.

"Are you waking up now?" Ohgi asked as he sat at his desk, a pistol in his hand as he kept a wary eye on her in the event she was a Britannian soldier.

"Yes…" She said weakly.

"What were you doing that caused you to end up passed out in a breakwater?" Ohgi inquired. "What's your name?"

"I… Uh…" She looked up at the ceiling, a look of worried confusion on her face. "My name is…"

Ohgi's jaw dropped in shock.

"What is my name…?" She whispered softly.

"You don't remember!? What about Zero… You were talking about him before!"

"Who's Zero…?" She asked, confused.

There wasn't a person around in Area 11, or in any urbanized area on the _planet_ , who wasn't living under a rock that didn't know who Zero was, this was the statement that caused Ohgi to realize the blood loss she'd suffered combined with the battering she'd taken when she'd ended up on the breakwater had likely given this woman a severe case of amnesia.

Ohgi facepalmed as he tried to figure out exactly what the hell he was doing currently. "What am I doing… I practically betray him by not reporting this… And _why!?_ "

She sat up, the sheet coming off her chest. "But I don't know anything!" She said before realizing her immodesty and turning away, covering herself with the sheet. "Nothing at all…"

Ohgi looked away. "Sorry… But I had to tend to your injuries and your clothes were already too badly stained by blood to recover… I didn't quite feel comfortable redressing you… But I turned up the heat so it should be alright…" He stuttered, remembering that he'd been the _awkward_ guy of the Kozuki group prior to Naoto's death.

The fact he hadn't found an ID on her had been concerning, indicating that someone had stolen it. But a blood analysis combined with the hacked access to Britannia's databases would give him an answer sooner or later.

"Thank goodness, anyone could have picked me up out there, but I got someone _nice_." She said, Ohgi blinking as he'd just realized a _Britannian_ of all people had called him, an _Eleven_ , nice.

" _Zero's right… Our enemy is Britannia itself…_ Not _her people. There's nothing stopping most of them from being decent human beings except for an ingrained culture of brutality towards their perceived lessers."_ He thought as the woman smiled earnestly at him.

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Robert H. Stanley Veterans Affairs Hospital, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"The test results came out fine…" The psychologist told Suzaku and Cecile as she looked over at her computer screen. "You seem to pay an extreme deal of attention to discipline and to weighing the value of human life, particularly if deaths are avoidable." She noted.

"Is that going to cause problems?" Suzaku asked somewhat nervously.

"These are positive traits for a soldier to have, do you think subconsciously that you're comparing yourself to your father?" She inquired.

Suzaku's eyes widened as Cecile gasped. "That may be the underlying cause of your insecurity." The psychologist informed him. "It's quite common in the children of famous people… Your father, Genbu Kururugi, the former Prime Minister of Japan… He was a great man…"

Suzaku resisted the urge to frown. _"If only anyone besides Kirihara and Todoh knew the truth… They wouldn't be saying that…"_

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Kururugi Grave, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Urabe and the others are _late_ …" Chiba muttered as she, Asahina, and Todoh stood in front of the grave of Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi.

"Well this sure is an ironic meeting place isn't it… The grave of Prime Minister Kururugui…" Asahina snarked dryly.

Chiba sneered. "The traitor who told us to fight to the end and then committed suicide himself."

"I still don't get how that's treason, it just makes him a hypocrite." Asahina sighed as Todoh spoke up.

"Enough!" Todoh snapped. "General Katase _also_ committed suicide, and he was a _true_ patriot." He stated, shutting down any further debate.

* * *

From afar, a Recon Met bearing Repliforce markings observed the three through its low light optics.

["Fugitive Todoh identified… All units, prepare to move in."] A Repliforce officer ordered.

["Yes, my lord."] The capture teams replied in unison.

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch picked up a disk as he talked to Diethard on the phone. "Yes, I've read through your proposal on how to reorganize the Black Knights and am working it into my original cell structure plan." He said as he tossed the disk aside, still frustrated by his own helplessness regarding C2 and Nemo. "I'll mark out the changes that need to be made and I'll run it by Ohgi tomorrow."

["Thanks, I appreciate that."]

"Next draft I need you to forecast how the cell-based structure will be implemented, that's all." Lelouch said as he hung up and looked out the window in frustration.

" _Diethard… Though he's a relative unknown, he's been more useful than I hoped…"_ Lelouch thought. _"Still he could be a spy… And how am I just standing around and doing_ nothing _while both Nemo and C2 are in danger…"_

He glanced over at his laptop, remembering his plan.

"Hmm… Perhaps it's time to call Dr. Cain… I haven't talked to him since C2 went in for repairs have I…"

A wry smirk grew on his face as he picked up his phone again and dialed Cain's number.

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Clovisland, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Nemo walked slowly into the main area of the Clovisland amusement park and glanced around.

" _Nothing so far…"_ She thought before the rides began to light up one by one. _"Well, it appears subtlety has been lost on Mao…"_ Knowing that the otherwise derelict amusement park would attract major attention from law enforcement by doing this.

Music began to play as the Merry-Go-Round began to turn, the girl keeping her eyes on it as she reached for her pistol.

"Expecting me riding a white stallion?" A voice from behind her inquired as she spun to face Mao, whom was pointing a gun at her.

"I didn't think you were _this_ dumb, it appears the art of delicacy was lost on you." She snarked as she drew her own weapon. "You do realize that shooting me is about as useful as combining a spoon and knife correct?"

"Ooh, scary, I'm soo impressed by your dry wit." He retorted, unimpressed in the slightest.

"So… You want to know where _she_ is?" Nemo inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, the _original_ C.C., the _real_ one! Where is she!?" Mao demanded rather heatedly.

"All I know is that she's a _massive_ bitch." Nemo said flatly, Mao shooting her in the leg and sending her tumbling to the pavement as a result, Nemo's gun sliding some distance from her.

Nemo hissed in pain as her body slowly, but far faster than a normal human, began to repair itself and kept her composure. "Ah, ah, ah, you don't get to insult her when I hold all the cards." Mao sneered as he kept the pistol aimed at her.

"She's still a bitch…" Nemo hissed as Mao shot her in the other leg.

"You're just gonna keep doing it and I'm just gonna keep shooting you." Mao chuckled, sadistically enjoying the view of her writhing in pain.

"Fine… She's up your ass and around the corner."

That earned her a bullet to the left arm, Nemo yelping in pain as a result while Mao kicked her gun much further away from him.

"Give me a real answer… Or else I'm gonna have to start chopping those sticks you call limbs." Mao cackled as he walked over to the stage nearby and pulled out a chainsaw from where he'd hidden it.

"You're a special kind of person aren't you…" Nemo gasped as she rolled onto her back. "You think that she even cares about you at this point… She's a lot different than you remember her… And it's not pretty in the slightest." She warned.

"YOU LIE! SHE LOVES ME! AND I LOVE HER!" Mao shouted psychotically as he dragged the chainsaw over to her and fired several more shots into her limbs and gut, knocking the wind out of the immortal while the engine of the tool rumbling ominously.

"Heh, I'd gladly point you in her direction if I knew where she was…" Nemo chuckled weakly as blood pooled around her.

"Liar! LIAR! **LIAR**! ALL YOU ARE IS A LYING FAKE!" Mao shrieked as he brought the chainsaw up.

["Hmph… You're even more childish than I assumed."] The last person either would expect right now stated as the screens on stage flared to life, forming an image.

"Lelouch…?" Nemo wheezed as Mao wheeled around, glaring at the stage.

"INTERLOPER!" He shouted furiously.

["Originally I was surprised that this was the place that you picked, but then I realized that it was a location where there would reasonably be no other humans within five hundred meters of you."] Lelouch said as the screens panned down in front of Tokyo Tower to reveal him standing there.

Mao clenched his fists as Nemo blinked weakly.

["Since that's the maximum radius of your Geass, it can't reach me here at Tokyo Tower."]

"That's true! That's very true!" Mao chuckled, clapping his hands and, much to Nemo's consternation, the chainsaw as well. "But what can you do from so far away hmm? Gareth will kill your little friend if he even so much as catches a whiff of police, or anyone else, here! After taking all that trouble to relay a message here, what's your grand plan? A remote-controlled attack with some battery-operated toys? Or a tongue lashing to batter me into submission?"

Lelouch didn't respond to Mao.

"Ah, cat got _your_ tongue! If you want Nemo and C2, you're gonna have to-"

Lelouch grinned smugly as he spoke again. ["I'm afraid your associate will soon be a bit too… Indisposed to deal with C2 at the moment…"] He replied with a smirk. ["As for my plan… Well… Someone told me the name of the person you're looking for and where they are! I would've gladly told you… However, your actions have caused me to rethink such a _generous_ offer."]

That set Mao off, the Man scrambling up the steps in a rage. "LIAR, LIAR, LIAR!" He screamed as he angrily smashed the display with the chainsaw. "FACE ME! LELOUCH! COME HERE! SO I CAN LOOK INTO YOUR MIND! I'LL SEE THE TRUTH! I'LL SEE WHAT A LIAR YOU ARE! LIAAAR!" He ranted as he cut into the displays.

["Mao… You've _lost_. You're just too blind to _see_ it."] Lelouch taunted as the speakers went offline.

"WHAT'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? I DON'T CARE, I'M GONNA BE WITH C.C.!"

Then there was a chatter from dozens of minds, Mao looked around, attempting to find the source of the noise. "WHO! WHERE!? Is that Lelouch? But he's too far away…" The crazed man muttered. "Sound, everywhere… All those voices…"

Suddenly boots clapped on the pavement as a group of Knightpolice units and police Ride Armors rolled in, backed by Armored Cars, SWAT officers and Riot cops as they surrounded Mao. The Human and Reploid cops aiming their weapons at him.

["Stop right there! Drop your weapon and surrender!"] One of the Knightpolice pilots shouted over their loudspeakers as pair of Police VTOLs illuminated Mao in their searchlights.

"No! What're _they_ doing here!?" He gasped in horror.

* * *

Gareth frowned as he watched the Police surround Mao from the warehouse that once stored the park's food supply.

"I see…" He turned back to C2, whom was struggling against her restraints. "Well, It'd be a lie to say that I enjoyed the time we spent together." He told her as he walked over, the much smaller Reploid shaking in horror as she realized what was about to happen.

"No… No… No…" She cried out as she struggled to activate her armored mode but failed due to the inhibitor bolt he'd placed on her.

Gareth pulled out a tool and reached for her neck. Tears rolled down C2's face as she awaited her impending end.

And then a flash of blue and red light snapped her back to reality.

A familiar voice uttered a single word in order. " **FREEZE!** "

C2's jaw dropped open as she saw X and Zero standing there, their busters pointed at Gareth, whom had actually stiffened as he processed the new variable.

X froze when he saw C2, the look of sheer terror on her face, and then Gareth.

Enraged beyond reason, he _immediately_ opened fire on full automatic, hammering shot after shot into the Knight-like Reploid and causing him to back away from C2 as he drew his shield. "Zero!"

"On it!" With that, the Red Armored hunter dashed towards Gareth as the latter drew his polearm, his beam saber clashing with the energy Jumonji yari as Gareth backed away buying time while X rushed over to C2 and released her from the restraints, the emotionally drained Reploid falling into his arms as she whimpered, too terrified by her close brush with oblivion to make a witty comment, or do much of anything otherwise.

"I've got her!" He shouted, holding C2 close to him and proceeding to soothe her, reassuring the other Reploid that she was safe now.

Zero gave him a thumbs up before he re-engaged Gareth, the two bladesmen clashing again and again as X watched, transfixed by the display of their respective battle prowess, despite his inherent abilities he was still Zero's lesser in terms of raw skill.

" _Could I be like that someday…?"_ He wondered.

And then he remembered what Doctor Light had once told him about will.

" _You see X… Even Rock, despite being a world famous hero, wasn't a great fighter at first… But he never gave up and worked tirelessly, even at the cost of himself, to improve as a warrior… If only because it was what he could do to save lives."_

X picked up C2 and rushed off, trying to get her to safety. "Vile! Move in!" He shouted over his comms.

["About freaking time!"] Vile grumbled.

Suddenly the wall burst in, stunning Gareth, whom was easily taken off-guard by what occurred next.

" **OH YEAH!** " Vile shouted as his Ride armor smashed the Knight-themed Reploid into the opposite wall.

"How long have you wanted to do that?" Zero asked in exasperation.

"What year is it?" The violet-armored Hunter quipped.

"Nevermind…" Zero sighed before Gareth got up and teleported away much to the frustration of the Maverick Hunters.

"DAMNIT! WE ALMOST HAD HIM!" Zero snarled as he slammed his fist against a shelf as Vile grumbled loudly.

"Fucking coward..." The other Hunter snarled as he crossed his arms.

* * *

Outside Mao looked around helplessly as the cops closed in on him.

["Remain where you are!"] One of the Knightmare pilots shouted at him. ["I repeat! Throw down your weapon and surrender! You will be taken into custody!"] They shouted as several Bee Bladers thrummed overhead and dropped off Maverick Hunter Officers and Troopers as X walked out of the nearby warehouse with C2 in his arms

"The Police _and_ the Maverick Hunters!? But who…!? Who contacted them!"

Totally unnoticed in his stolen police uniform, Lelouch walked over to Nemo and gently picked her up.

Nemo gasped as she saw his face. "Lelouch… What're you doing here…?"

Mao's jaw dropped as he realized how badly he'd been had. "It can't be! He was just at Tokyo Tower! He can't here now!"

Lelouch turned to look at him, a smug grin on his face. _"Are you that_ slow _?"_ He thought, refusing to give himself away by speaking to Mao, and additionally making him seem like a totally unstable crackpot to the Police, which he was anyways. _"I've played you like a damn fiddle and you don't even realize_ how badly _yet. That was all a_ recording _."_

"That's a lie! You were talking to me! Answering me!" Mao shouted as the cops tensed on their trigger fingers, shotguns, revolver and semi auto pistols, SMGs, and rifles aimed straight at him.

" _Your thoughts are so simple… Once I figured out_ how _you_ _thought… It was relatively easy to predict your most likely responses for the situation."_ He taunted Mao mentally. _"Since you read minds you've never actually had to_ outthink _your opponents."_

"You actually predicted my answers… DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME PUNK! IF THE COPS ARREST ME THEN I'LL BE BACK OUT IN A HEARTBEAT!" He yelled at Lelouch.

The police naturally were confused by this, their thoughts clashing in his mind as he glanced around, wild eyed.

"SHUT UP! JUST STOP TAUNTING ME!" He screamed, causing the officers to tense up again.

" _Nemo told me you can't turn off your Geass. And your reach is erratic, if you don't concentrate your range gets_ very _short. And your ability to read beyond surface level thoughts goes away as well."_

"So you used the monitor to keep me distracted?! Even so! I'll still defeat you! I'll have you RUINED!" He shouted. " **RUINED**!"

" _And as for arresting you..._ _You think too highly of my desire to see you still_ living _. Because that's the thing about SWAT teams Mao… There's always a designated_ sniper _or two on each one… Goodbye and good_ riddance _."_ Lelouch thought as he loudly clicked his police radio on a specific channel once while Mao contemplated what he meant.

The dawning horror on Mao's face as it set in how screwed he caused Lelouch to smile with a grim sense of schadenfreude.

* * *

The SWAT Officer Lelouch had Geassed received the signal and exhaled before pulling the trigger on his rifle.

His crosshairs set firmly on Mao's forehead.

* * *

Mao's eyes went as wide as dinner plates a split second before a .308 caliber linear propelled bullet tore clean through his skull and he went down like a sack of bricks.

The clack of a coilrifle firing echoed shortly thereafter.

Nemo wasn't even phased, she hardly cared about Mao in the first place while Lelouch simply kept smiling with a dark sense of satisfaction, having wiped his hands of one irritant for good.

The police, initially startled by the gunshot, relaxed and then began securing the scene for forensics as Lelouch carried Nemo onto a Police VTOL that had landed to pick him up as per the instructions he'd given the pilot, which took off soon after, followed by a Bee Blader X had boarded with C2, Zero, and Vile.

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shinjuku Ghetto, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["This is Echo 3, I've released the human hostage into the Ghetto as ordered."] The Police Pilot reported as his Bell 47J VTOL ascended off the skyscraper's landing pad.

["What?! You were supposed to take her to the hospital! Echo 3 what the hell are you doing!? Echo 3 respond at once! Echo 3!"] The dispatcher replied, in shock at the blatant disregard for orders.

Unbeknownst to the man, the Geass of Absolute Obedience could not simply be denied by mere mortals.

"So… What was Mao's story…" Lelouch asked as the VTOL flew off.

"The person who gave Mao his Geass power did so at a vulnerable phase… He was only six years old when it was done… Over time as his power was used, it became impossible to control… And because Code Bearers are immune to the effects of _any_ Geass, she became the only person he could even _stand_ to be around and thus was imprinted heavily upon him…" Nemo stated calmly as they watched the glow of the VTOL's anti-collision and navigation lights recede into the distance.

"And that created a dangerous dependency…" Lelouch finished for her, Nemo nodding to indicate his correctness.

"That person was also too sentimental, as in Mao's eyes they were not only a friend, but a possible lover, so they ran rather than deal with the problem they made themselves… Someone like that would be considered weak, no?" She inquired, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

Lelouch glanced at her. "Is there a lesson you're trying to teach me?" He asked, unimpressed by her statements.

"I'm just saying… At some point you'll be faced with someone you don't want to fight… Suzaku is quite keen on denouncing you after all… Do you think you could order his death, or even kill him yourself if it came down to it?"

Lelouch looked away, deep in contemplative thought.

"I'm not sure." He said finally. "But… Only when that situation comes to pass, can I truly know if I'm up to the task."

"At least you're being honest for once… That's really all I ask of you."

"Hmph. I highly doubt Suzaku will be _that_ much of an issue anyways." Lelouch said after a moment as they turned and began to walk across the roof.

"So, how do you think C2's doing...?" Nemo asked as they headed for the stairwell.

"I doubt she's doing well at all... Something like this would be especially jarring for her given her pride, even if she refuses to admit it."

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Bee Blader** _ **Echo 419**_ **, Tokyo Settlement Airspace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

X sighed as the Bee Blader finally received landing clearance for the Maverick Hunter HQ, C2 still clinging to his chassis like a lifeline.

He gently tapped the green haired Reploid, stirring her out of sleep mode. "We're about to land." He said softly to her as she huddled closer against him.

"Alright…" She whispered as Zero raised an eyebrow at X.

"You okay?" He asked as C2 snuggled up tighter to him.

"Don't wanna go back to Ashford… Can't cope with everything right now…" She mumbled somewhat tiredly, mentally exhausted by her near-brush with erasure. "Is it alright if I stay with you tonight…?" She asked softly, much to X's surprise and embarrassment as both Zero _and_ Vile began to snicker.

"I uh… I'll have to clear it with my superiors but… I'll see what I can do…"

"Aw come on X, they'll probably have her under watch in case that Knight-wannabe comes back." Zero noted. "Don't _you_ want to be the one to have that job?" He jabbed good-naturedly as Vile chuckled like an asshole next to him.

X looked away pensively, causing Zero to frown briefly as he realized how serious this was getting. "I'll think about applying for that duty." He said as C2 gently nuzzled up to him absentmindedly with her eyes shut, and how X was clearly showing something more than his normal compassion with her, a smile breaking out on Zero's face as he noticed how sweet the moment would be were it not for the context behind it.

 _"Well... At least X really has someone... I should probably talk to Iris later, make sure she knows I'm okay."_ The Red-armored Hunter thought as Vile launched into another set of taunts against X, probably to screw with him.

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

"I see, thank you for notifying me. Yes, I'll look into finding a way to lodge one of your officers here to serve in witness protection." Lelouch told someone over the phone. "Good night to you too." He said as he disconnected the line and frowned.

"What was that about?" Nunnally asked as she sat up in bed, Lelouch having been interrupted in his usual nighttime ritual of putting her to bed by the call.

"Apparently the Maverick Hunters wish to assign someone to watch over C2 for a while, or at least until whoever kidnapped her is retired or brought into custody." He admitted after a moment's hesitation.

"But Miss Sayoko can protect her right…?" Nunnally asked innocently as Lelouch gently grabbed her hand.

"I know Sayoko would do the best she can… But high-end Reploids are just something people can't really fight on their own…" He told her softly.

"Oh… But what if they find out who we are…?"

Lelouch squeezed her hand. "Then I'll find a way to deal with it… Remember Dr. Cain has a lot of influence in the Maverick Hunters, if worst comes to worst he can hide us in Australia." He assured her.

Nunnally nodded at him. "Right."

"Let's just pray it doesn't come to that okay Nunnally?"

"Okay big brother."

He stood up and walked back to his room after bidding Nunnally good night.

* * *

Sure enough, Nemo was waiting for him, fiddling about with C2's Cheese-kun and her Cheese-chan, an open Pizza Hut catalog next to her.

"Dare I ask what're you doing?"

Nemo shrugged. "Wondering how much havoc I could cause if I ordered enough Pizza for the entire school thrice over using your credit card." She admitted freely.

He sighed in exasperation. "Well you haven't changed much. Although I assume what Mao did to you was really nothing compared to what you've gone through."

Nemo shook her head. "Not really… I'm more worried about you know who…"

Lelouch nodded. "Yes… C2's psyche has been rather… Fragile after Narita. I'm worried that this will make her even more hesitant to fight X or the other Maverick Hunters should she encounter them again. And I can't simply ask her since she'll have a guard assigned to provide her with witness protection until this 'Gareth' individual is dealt with…" He grumbled in defeat.

"I suppose we'll have to deal with an unintended variable until then…" Nemo sighed.

"Until then…" He repeated as he slumped down into his chair and began to drift off, exhausted from the prior events.

Nemo waited until he was asleep before she walked over and put a blanket over him.

"Good night Lelouch… You deserve a decent rest after everything you've been through over the past few days…" She whispered softly as she headed off to bed herself.

* * *

 **September 22, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Cornelia resisted the urge to yawn, wondering what it was that Colonel had told her was so urgent as she and Euphemia entered the throne room and took their seats, she hoped it wasn't Asplund coming to brag about the new limited-production Lancelot variants, Lionel and Bors, being deployed to her Royal Guard given that Schneizel had already sent word that the first units be arriving soon with the Glaston Knights.

Before them stood Liath, Colonel, Iris, Guilford, Darlton…

And Commander Sigma of the 17th unit.

Never a good sign to see the De Facto Commander of the Maverick Hunter detachment in Area 11 present, as official meetings between Maverick Hunter Officers and foreign dignitaries were typically either for showpiece diplomatic affairs to improve relations between the Hunters and the various regions of the planet they operated over.

Or to signify there was major trouble in the local area.

"What's the situation." She asked tiredly as Colonel glanced at Sigma.

"Earlier tonight a hostage situation was resolved at the abandoned Clovisland amusement park." Guilford reported. "Two hostages, one Reploid and one Human, were rescued by law enforcement and the Maverick Hunters. One of the two suspects, a Chinese man staying in country under an expired visa, was killed by a SWAT sniper while the Reploid suspect escaped after a brief confrontation with the 17th unit of the Maverick Hunters."

"I see, but why bring it to our attention?" Euphemia asked before Cornelia could, the Viceroy nodding at her sister for her sharp thinking.

Sigma cleared his throat and spoke. "Because the escaped suspect has been confirmed to be tied to a series of previously unexplained cases of Reploids being wiped clean of all onboard data."

Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "Explain this further… What do you mean by… Wiped clean of all onboard data?"

"The entire DNA soul of a Reploid has been deleted, they can't even boot up anymore, just an empty shell where someone used to be…" Iris clarified, the Reploid very much visibly unnerved by this to Euphie's chagrin. "We're calling it 'erasure' for simplicity's sake…"

"Erasure…" Cornelia whispered softly with a frown on her face. "And excuse me for my ignorance, but what is a DNA soul?"

"The collected programs that make up a Reploid's very being are officially known as a 'DNA soul', nobody really knows who came up with it first, but it spread over the net like wildfire until it became the official designation for what makes a Reploid themselves, not unlike how humans hold onto the concept of souls to explain their own individuality and uniqueness." Colonel explained to Cornelia, the woman nodding in understanding.

"I see… And why exactly is this happening in the first place?" She inquired.

Darlton sighed as he exchanged a glance with Liath. "We only have theories at this point, but the most likely one is that the suspect has found a way to turn DNA souls into a power boost, we're not sure how this is even possible all things considered but…"

"Would they be a threat to our forces?" The Viceroy asked, her eyes narrowing.

"As far as we can tell at this point they wouldn't be a threat beyond localized damage due to our overwhelming combat strength, nor would Zero accept them into his ranks to head off that line of thought, while he is indeed ruthless the civilian casualties he's caused have only come from carelessness, and aside from his slipup at Narita he's continued to toe his official line about the Black Knights being 'Knights of Justice', which precludes any alliance between this entity and them." Guilford stated calmly. "Nevertheless, productivity has taken a massive hit as the Area's Reploid population is being gripped in a state of terror, many of them are applying for firearms licenses and some fringe elements are blaming robophobia on the part of human authorities for letting it get this far down the line."

"I see… What measures should we put in place to reduce the risks of random Reploids being attacked?" Euphie inquired.

"Aside from mandating that Reploids never travel alone in the Tokyo region, there isn't much we _can_ do, monitoring resources are stretched thin as is searching for the Black Knights." Colonel admitted.

Cornelia frowned. "Very well then, Commander you are free to pull your Maverick Hunters off sweep duty for the Black Knights, I can't afford a third party running around and causing havoc like this." She stated.

Sigma nodded. "I thank you Viceroy." He said magnanimously.

* * *

 **September 23, 2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Area 11 Regional HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

X sighed as he and C2 walked out of the building towards a waiting transport that would take them back to Ashford.

"You okay?" He asked her as she stopped briefly.

"Yeah…" She lied, currently more worried about X discovering Lelouch was Zero than Gareth coming back for her.

That and her own sudden powerlessness in the face of a surprise attack, it infuriated and terrified her to no end upon realizing there wasn't really much she could've done all alone in that situation besides not freezing up, which would've been nearly impossible.

That and she noticed her own fighting skills against other Reploids had improved little since Shinjuku, mostly because she hadn't done all that much.

Ignorant of her thoughts, X gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Everything'll be alright, we'll find the Reploid who's doing this and bring them down." He promised with a slight smile on his face.

C2 nodded but remained inwardly skeptical.

After all, they still had no idea who provided Katase with that transmitter, which she inwardly suspected had done something to her while she was planting the bomb underneath the tanker.

Which disturbed her slightly in hindsight, while Lelouch had likely planned the bomb attack from the beginning, his method had become somewhat justified in that it prevented the JLF from causing thousands of deaths should they have unleashed that Maverick Virus on Area 11.

And yet… Some dark part of her wouldn't have minded if that had happened.

[" _ **It's what the humans deserve for perpetuating their endless**_ ** _wars_** _ **…**_ _"_ ] The sultry tone of the Zero virus whispered into her mind, the final word echoing endlessly like a faint breeze in the wind.

X stopped and looked back at her as he waited next to the transport after noticing she'd stopped suddenly. "You sure you're okay…?"

C2 blinked and looked up at him, the echo of the virus fading. "Yeah…"

* * *

"Never been better…"

* * *

 **AN: Remember, the Zero virus is anything** _ **but**_ **a normal virus, as it's apparently capable of affecting its surroundings on a Physical level or perhaps even causing** _ **X's**_ **sensors to malfunction depending on how you view the Zero stages in X5, despite him being equipped with the most absurdly capable anti-virus in the franchise, which renders him totally immune to any form of the Maverick virus until the Nightmare virus is revealed. Although what C2 is infected with is only a flawed early prototype recreation that Sigma is working on, it's still insanely more capable than the basic Sigma-type Maverick virus because Wily is a fucking nutjob.**


	18. Stage 18: Erasure's End

**AN: Now in case anyone is wondering how C2 would be captured so easily, she wasn't expecting Mao or Gareth to suddenly appear in the middle of Ashford, and the latter surprised her.**

 **As George R.R. Martin once wrote (I think?). "The unseen enemy is always the most fearsome."**

 **Now initially it was supposed to be Lelouch and C2 heading to class opening this chapter.**

 **Except the 23rd of September is on a** _ **Sunday**_ **in 1962.**

 **Whoops.**

 **Also, reminder that Maverick Hunters** _ **do**_ **perform basic law enforcement in support of local agencies when it's viewed as needed.**

 **Rivalz powering across the Ashford Campus on his Motorcycle is something they naturally frown upon.**

 **Also, speaking of reactions, you'd think Lelouch would be more than nonplussed by the fact that Suzaku just _runs_ up a goddamn wall while outrunning machine gun fire and still maintains enough momentum to kick the turret off its track mount.**

 **In a world where humans** _ **shouldn't**_ **do that under 99.9% of all circumstances, that would cause even him, mister magic glowy mind control eye powers with the immortal witch sidekick to at least go "Excuse me what the fuck." as aside from Spinzaku, we never see him perform any similar feats beforehand.**

 **Suzaku may be an exercise freak, but that's just inhuman.**

* * *

 **September 23, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch and C2 walked to the latest student council meeting, X following in tow, the dull clanks of both Reploids' footfalls echoing through the hallway and totally drowning out Lelouch's.

"Does he really have to follow you all the time?" Lelouch whispered to the Reploid as she walked next to him.

C2 sighed. "It's for 'my own safety' until this Gareth guy is caught." She whispered back, knowing that X was just out of earshot as his own audio pickups were less sensitive than hers due to the retuning she'd done for her espionage work.

Lelouch glanced back at X and grumbled. This would interfere with what he'd had planned for later. At least Dr. Cain had sworn X to secrecy regarding himself and Nunnally being Britannian Royals.

Sometimes he was just too nosy for his own good, as Lelouch had discovered in the aftermath of his request to the good Doctor following C2's brief abduction.

He hadn't pressed on how she felt, but he didn't doubt the experience of helplessness had left her shaken at the very least.

Anyways, so long as he could sneak Nemo out without X noticing or suspecting anything, then there was little risk of his more _dangerous_ secret being discovered.

"Very well then." He replied as they walked up to the door to the student council room and headed inside, X taking up post just down the hallway.

* * *

 **Septembr 23, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Yes, that's right." Diethard confirmed as he walked up to his laptop while a feed of Kallen doing basic tests with the Guren played on a screen behind him from aboard the ex-JMSDF replenishment vessel _Kamoi_ while several pilots were testing out their new machines near her. "The training for the post-refit Guren Mark II is proceeding on schedule. As is the training for the pilots of the new Guren Mark I Kais. Kyoto and the Military District of India have come to terms on future parts and attrition replacement shipments, so we're just waiting for Rakshata and her team to arrive to bring them back up to one hundred percent."

He glanced over at something on his laptop. "Additionally, the organization's changeover to a cell-based structure is now ninety-two percent complete, barring our central forces under your direct command of course, the members have also been ranked into fourteen tiers. As you directed, we've infiltrated all known Britannian warehouses. Within the Kanto bloc, combat personnel have been dispersed to five hundred and sixty-four separate locations, even if they flooded the island with recon mets and other scout Mechaniloids they'd never find them all. Britannian forces have uncovered thirty-two of our positions however, of these, eleven were dummies. Losses include forty-seven members apprehended and an unknown amount of equipment and supplies seized. But since critical information is firewalled for anyone below class eight, the Britannians don't have much to work with." He reported. "And now that we have the undivided support of the Kyoto group, we're seeing next to no cases of citizens tipping off the authorities. On that list of Britannian supporters… Yes it's that group you made arrangements with."

Inoue held up a photo to remind Diethard about Todoh.

"Oh and we're still working on leads for information about Todoh and the Four Holy swords." He added.

* * *

 **September 23, 2017 ATB**

 **Haneda Airport International Terminal, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["-Flight A176 to the Chinese Federation is now boarding at Gate-"]

"Understood, continue with the work alright?" Lelouch said before hanging up as a disguised Nemo walked past him and stopped, her hair dyed black and wearing contact lenses to get past security in the off chance she'd been recorded by Lancelot.

"You sure you want me to be the messenger?" She asked as she checked her nails. "It's risky for me to leave you here at such a delicate time."

He glanced to his left. "I can't risk the Hunters finding you, and neither C2 nor I can go. Additionally, I'd never put Shirley in such a stressful position even if she was able to just skip classes for it, which leaves you as the only one I can trust to get the job done." He stated calmly. "A word of warning, if you look humble they'll look down on you, the corrupt oligarchs and bureaucrats who run the Federation are fond of listening to the ostentatious. That's how it works there."

"Maybe you should've sent me off to Russia then." She joked dryly.

Lelouch narrowed his eyes at her. "I'd rather not deal with the Soviets at this moment in time."

Nemo nodded. "Alright then, but I guess unlike you I do have some humility."

"Good. Now you can put it to use." He said as he turned away. "How's your passport."

"Not a bad forgery." Nemo replied as she pulled her bag's towing handle out. "I'm all set."

And with that, the two parted ways.

* * *

 **September 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Yes but I don't see how relevant the Jetsons are to this discussion." Lelouch sighed, wondering about C2's idle obsession with new cartoons.

C2 opened her mouth to reply just as Suzaku ran up to them.

"Hey! Lelouch! C2!" Suzaku shouted, causing him and C2 to stop and turn to face him. "I haven't seen you around in a bit, you do know that even Milly can't stop them from holding you back if you keep skipping classes." He scolded somewhat jovially with a smirk on his face.

"I can say the same about you, you know that?" Lelouch responded as C2 watched from the side.

Suzaku shrugged. "I have work to do, and the Black Knights have really been on the move recently." He admitted, causing alarm bells to ring in C2's head as she remembered ASEEC's role in Knightmare development while the implications rolled smoothly past Lelouch.

"Hey… I thought you were in engineering?" Lelouch asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, we're shorthanded so they move me around to help out." Suzaku lied quickly, ironically using one of Lelouch's favorite methods, a partial truth, against him.

"Hmm, still, how about dropping by for dinner more often. Nunnally misses you." Lelouch paused for a moment before continuing. "Are you free this evening?" He asked.

"Yeah, I can come tonight, but are you sure it's okay? I don't wan- AUGH!" Suzaku yelped as he leapt back a foot or so as Rivalz's motorcycle screeched up to them, C2 not even flinching as it swung up to her and the tire came to a stop against her 'toes'.

From nearby she could hear X shout angrily about Rivalz being a threat to public safety.

He wasn't wrong about the reckless driving on a crowded school campus, while the boy was skilled all it took was an unfortunate stint of luck to get someone injured.

Or worse.

Rivalz hopped off his bike. "HEY LELOUCH!" He shouted as he staggered a bit, trying to get his bearings after the spin.

"What's wrong?" Lelouch asked calmly, figuring this was probably about Milly.

"I hear the president's out doing a blind date thing again!"

"Yeah, today." Lelouch stated as Rivalz's eyes seemed to bulge out of his goggles.

"TODAY!?" He shrieked as he grabbed Lelouch by the front of his shirt and shook him slightly. "WHY. DIDN'T. YOU. TELL. ME. ABOUT. IT!?" He demanded as Suzaku glanced at C2, whom shrugged at him.

"Because, it'd make you cry…" Lelouch noted.

"BOYS DON'T CRY!" Rivalz denied sharply while Suzaku winced, remembering the cat festival.

"It's okay, I didn't know about it either." Suzaku said, trying to calm Rivalz down.

The blue haired boy turned and raised his fist up slightly. "Don't give me your emo routine!" He shouted while C2 resisted the urge to break out into a laughing fit at Rivalz's total flipout.

"Emo…?" Suzaku mumbled while blinking.

"I guess compassion is not in fashion these days…" Lelouch sighed as he began to walk away. "So anyways, are we still on for dinner tonight with Nunnally?" He asked.

"Sure…" He said as Lelouch turned and ran off, C2 following suit as she began laughing loudly. "Wait! What about school!?" Suzaku cried out after them.

"Don't worry! We're just gonna go tell her about it!" Lelouch shouted back as they ran off.

Rivalz sank down. "My life is _over_ and he's worried about dinner…" Rivalz sighed before the chatter from the other students picked up as X walked over, wrote down a ticket and ripped the stub off.

"That's not the only thing that'll be over if you don't shape up your driving." He said before slapping it onto Rivalz's windshield and striding off.

Rivalz could only groan louder as Suzaku slowly edged away from him.

* * *

 **September 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Area 11.**

Nunnally giggled as she held up a blue paper crane, gently feeling the item in her hands.

She heard the door hiss open and glanced over at it. "My classes don't start until second period Sayoko.

A metal footfall hit the floor as whoever it was stepped forwards.

"C2… Is that you? Or is it Officer X?" She asked as she cocked her head to the side.

"Neither, girl." Gareth stated as he continued marching forwards towards her, Nunnally now hearing the difference in weight of footsteps and trembling slightly as he reached towards her.

* * *

 **September 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **ASEEC Building, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lloyd glanced over at Milly. "Are you surprised? Matchmaking dates are usually in hotels, or restaurants." He noted as chatter from the development staff of the Lancelot filled the room.

Milly for one hadn't really expected to end up in a classified military R&D base, though the subject of the development was inside its dispatch trailer for security reasons, a dozen armed Guards patrolling the area around the vehicle, two ride armor units on standby close at hand, and some machine gun turrets sitting idly on the ceiling.

All to protect one machine.

"I uh, suppose that's true…" She said nervously. "But I'd heard you're a very unique person Lord Asplund…"

She'd soon realized _why_ Asplund had been elevated to nobility, it was to keep him working for Britannia due to his… Aforementioned uniqueness.

Lloyd turned to his work. " _Unique_ , what a delightfully artful way to put it." He noted.

"I'm surprised you're interested in a girl from the downgraded Ashford family." Milly managed after a moment of watching him type. "Especially after its loss of rank."

Lloyd turned back to her again. "Oh-ho, but I couldn't care less about loss of rank." He began before Cecile stepped in.

"Excuse me." She said as she set down a tea set.

"I'm sorry to trouble you." Milly apologized.

"Not at all, take as long as you want." Cecile said before Lloyd turned back to his work.

"No need for that. Why draw it out." He said boredly as he began typing away again. "Let's get married." He muttered as if it was an _inconvenience_ to even mention it.

Milly sputtered in shock.

"Getting cold feet?" He asked as Cecile resisted the urge to hit him.

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The door to the dining room hissed open as Lelouch walked inside.

"Nunnally? Suzaku's gonna…" He stopped upon realizing Nunnally wasn't present as C2 followed him inside, the Reploid also stiffening.

The two of them rushed over to the table and looked at the picture on it, surrounded by the cranes Nunnally had made earlier that day.

"This is beyond pale." The Reploid snarled with barely constrained rage as they stared down at a picture of Nunnally, tied to her wheelchair and gagged with some form of tape over her mouth.

"I'm going to _**kill**_ whomever is responsible for this." Lelouch agreed, growling in fury.

And then his phone rang.

He clicked answer and held it up to his ear after C2 nodded at him. "Yes…?"

["Lelouch!"]

"Nunnally! Where are you right now!?" He pleaded, hoping for an answer.

X stood in the hall and flattened himself against the wall, having followed to talk to Lelouch about Rivalz's driving habits, narrowing his eyes as he listened in via a wiretap.

He'd get chewed out for such an unauthorized move later, but this was something that needed to be done.

["I don't know… But I can't move!"] She replied before crying out softly as C2 clenched her fists, the Reploid quaking in anger.

"Nunnally!"

["If you want to have your precious sister back… Hand over C2…"] A female voice he didn't recognize demanded as X's eyes widened in shock.

C2 stared at him, her golden eyes meeting his violet ones.

She could see the pain in them, knowing that at the end of the day, Nunnally's safety trumped every other concern he had.

And yet.

"I can't do that…" He whispered.

["Then you'll have to come and find her… No calling the Maverick Hunters, no Police, no Black Knights, no Army. Just the two of you, or you won't like what happens."] The voice warned. ["You have five hours."]

And with that they hung up.

X hissed under his breath, having tapped into the signal of the call.

* * *

 **September 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Underground Maintenance Levels, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"That's not a very nice way to play a game…" Nunnally said softly as Berkana chuckled at her. "If you make my big brother sad, I'll never forgive you…"

"You honestly think this is a _game_ little girl…?" Berkana said as she strode over to Nunnally and gently cupped her chin. "I'm playing for keeps… Because you certainly won't be around anymore if we make your big brother sad."

Nunnally recoiled slightly as the implications sunk in, despite her seeming innocence she was more perceptive than she'd let on to either Lelouch or Suzaku. "Y… You're going to kill me…?" She gasped in horror. "But why…?"

"Because you're _weak_ , all of you damned humans are _weak_ , relying on Reploids and Mechaniloids to do the most dangerous or tedious jobs for you." She hissed as she pulled away and walked off. "And I hope to evolve our kind, and your 'friend' C2, she's just the latest stepping stone."

Gareth glanced over at Berkana. "We should just kill the girl and be done with it." He noted blandly as he glanced around the water reclamation tanks.

"And give him an excuse to have everyone he can manipulate come crashing down on us with all guns blazing? I think not. We wait until the time is right."

"As you command milady."

* * *

 **September 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Student Council Clubhouse.**

"No way, Shirley and Lelouch? You think they're together…?" Suzaku asked in confusion while he and an equally befuddled Kallen fed Arthur with a spoon.

"All I know is that they both went to Narita and came back on the same train, that and she's been sticking around near his room a bit more than usual." Rivalz said calmly. "Prez hasn't said anything but she's the one who first noticed it. Plus he had C2 watch her for a while before the cops shot that Mao guy in Clovisland."

Rivalz then remembered Milly's current status. "Oh! Right! What's up with her blind date!?" He groaned as Nina simply stared at him while eating a piece of Pizza, completely unamused with his brooding and grumbling.

"Nevermind that, if Shirley and Lelouch are dating…" Suzaku began.

"Leave 'em alone, they don't need any more attention…" Kallen said, wanting to change the subject _and_ resisting the urge to hit Rivalz for being even worse than Tamaki at the moment.

Suzaku looked back at her. "Uh, but you…"

Kallen looked down slightly. "Don't even think that way, I've got nothing to do with him." She clarified.

"So he hasn't taken the _plunge_ yet." Rivalz noted.

"The what…?" Nina asked softly.

"Lelouch is good with theories and all, but not so much with the _real thing_."

" _Okay… Even Tamaki would hit him on principle at this point."_ Kallen thought as her eye twitched slightly.

Nina blushed as her mind ran wild. "The real thing…?"

"I mean… He doesn't have _experience_ …"

"Experience…!?" The quiet girl squeaked.

"Gah!" Suzaku cried out, causing them both to look at him.

Sure enough, Arthur had bitten his thumb.

"What's the matter, don't you like your food…?" Kallen asked the cat.

Although at this point she was just sure that it was because _Suzaku_ was the one giving it to him.

" _That cat honestly hates him for some reason."_ The Redhead thought nonchalantly.

The door hissed open and as an out of breath Lelouch stumbled in.

As he looked around, Rivalz put a hand up into the air. "Hey Lelouch! What's happening with you and Shirley?" He asked bluntly.

Lelouch looked around slightly before realizing Rivalz was speaking to him. "Huh?"

"Take her someplace special?" Rivalz inquired.

"And what about your classes, you better-" Suzaku stopped himself upon seeing the look in his eyes.

He knew that look, having first seen it when they were only ten.

When they crested that hill to see waves of Britannian Marine Corps VTOLs carrying troops, Mechaniloids and Knightmares inland during the invasion.

It was a look of panic and despair.

Lelouch turned to leave. "Excuse me…" He apologized before stopping to address Suzaku. "I'll get back to you about dinner later." He said as he left.

Suzaku's face hardened as Kallen picked up Arthur.

"You think he's going gambling again, huh Arthur?" She cooed softly as the cat meowed.

Suzaku stood up, Kallen glancing up at him in surprise as he walked out as well.

"Where's he going…" She asked as the Japanese boy left the room.

Everyone else was equally bemused by this.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["If you do a handstand while searching I'll give you an extra hour."] The Voice joked. ["Oh whom am I kidding we both know that even if you _could_ do that it'd just waste time."] They said before hanging up.

Lelouch grimaced. _"How much did Mao tell them…? They could know_ anything _…!"_ He thought nervously, it had been sheer luck, at this point he wasn't sure if it was good or bad, that X had been listening in during the initial phone call. And he'd gone off with C2 to search one half of the campus while Lelouch handled the other.

" _They_ want _to see me squirm… And I know for a fact that if I hand C2 over to them, which I couldn't even if I_ wanted _to since she might_ kill _me in self-defense, they'll just kill Nunnally anyways…"_

His mind ran circles, directionless and panicking.

"Lelouch." Suzaku said as he walked up the stairs, the other boy dropping the photo in surprise and scrambling for it as it fell. "That's…" Suzaku paused for a moment. "I thought so… Something's happened to Nunnally…" He said, grimacing.

* * *

 **September 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shinjuku Ghetto, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The latches to Ohgi's residence unlocked and the door slowly creaked open as he walked inside.

"Welcome back!" Chigusa said as she greeted him from the Kitchen.

It had only been recently Ohgi had discovered her identity as Viletta Nu, one of the highest-ranking remaining purebloods in the since reorganized Tokyo chapter of the faction, via crosschecking her blood with Britannian databanks they'd hacked into. He had constantly intended to inform Zero of this, however every attempt had been stonewalled by the leader of the Black Knights being busy with one thing or another, much to his chagrin.

"Oh uh… Right." He replied as she turned around and walked back over to the stove.

"Good timing, the meal's almost ready!"

She also had total amnesia, and he'd been shocked to find her not even slightly discriminating against him for being Japanese.

Which again led into Zero's statements that Britannia nurtured her people to become monsters.

Then he realized what she'd just said. "Meal? You mean… Did you go out shopping somewhere?" He asked warily as he stepped into the kitchen.

She chuckled softly. "No, I just used some stuff you had lying around. Some people here are afraid of Britannians so…"

"Have you been able to remember anything yet?" He asked as he kept a hand on the pistol inside his coat pocket.

She turned to look at him, her face downcast. "Sorry, nothing at all yet."

Ohgi turned on his laptop and switched to the security feeds. "Don't push it, you're still healing. So it's alright if it takes time to remember."

There was the clinking of plates and silverware as Chigusa set the table. "Okay! It's ready!" She called as Ohgi glanced out of his room. "I sure hope you like it!"

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Suzaku and Lelouch walked down the hallway, the former grilling Lelouch for answers. "Who kidnapped Nunnally, they can't be Britannian can they? Are they working for the Royal Family?" He asked.

"No, this has absolutely nothing to do with our bloodline…" Lelouch replied grimly.

"Then why?"

He glanced at Suzaku. "It's about C2 and her DNA soul. The culprits are a pair of Reploids whom are behind the erasure incidents that've gripped Area 11's Reploid population in absolute terror." The raven haired young man explained.

Suzaku grimaced. "They only told me there was one of them…"

"Clearly their intelligence was incorrect. Either way, an investigation would reveal who we are, plus they threatened to kill Nunnally if I got any outside group involved, up to and _including_ the Black Knights should I be that desperate."

That was enough for Suzaku. "They only mentioned you _calling_ specific groups correct…? Then what's stopping me from involving myself as your friend and _not_ a member of the military?" He asked as they walked out of the building.

Lelouch shrugged. "Not much I'd assume, we already have C2's assigned 'bodyguard' X helping us search since he'd overheard everything, and since Dr. Cain put him in the loop, but they've found nothing so far."

* * *

Suzaku sighed as they ambled about aimlessly outside. "Do you have any leads?"

"Just this photo, and I know that they're somewhere on campus, watching me." He jerked suddenly as he remembered something from the phone call. "And now that I think about it, I heard the sound of running water too!"

Suzaku glanced away. "Water…" His eyes lit up suddenly. "The block's circulation system!"

"The lower levels… There's several large service elevators heading down there and the corridors are often large enough for Knightmares, heavy construction equipment, mechaniloids and even semi-trucks. Larger Reploids would have little issue moving about down there!" Lelouch agreed.

The two of them rushed to the nearest elevator, Lelouch tapping out a text message to C2 as they did so.

* * *

Arriving, Lelouch inserted his Ashford Student Council Keycard into the slot reader.

"Something's still off though…" Suzaku muttered.

"What?"

"Normally you'd home right in on that…" He noted, concerned about Lelouch as X and C2 trooped up, having received Lelouch's message.

Lelouch grumbled as his card was rejected.

"What is it?" Suzaku asked as the Reploids ambled about.

"They've changed the codes on me…" He promptly began typing into the elevator's keypad. "I'll have to try and brute force my way in using my council authorization."

"But… That's against school rules…" Suzaku said somewhat weakly as C2 groaned audibly.

"Not the time." X said as he cocked his arm mounted buster cannon.

Suzaku shrugged sheepishly at the Maverick Hunter.

Lelouch rolled his eyes. "I'll change it back later. Anyways, I've got it."

The doors slid open and the four of them strode inside.

"That was fast… You're a little _too_ good at that…" Suzaku observed as Lelouch shrugged.

"The student council has partial access to these areas." He replied as X and C2 glanced at eachother.

Suzaku remained even-faced. "So this is how you and C2 have been getting off campus under Milly's nose isn't it, your little _escape route_ , so to speak."

Lelouch blinked before responding a bit later than Suzaku expected. "You've got us, I keep insisting that she come gambling with me… Some of the people I play tend to not take losing very well and have plenty of security guys with them."

It was C2's turn to roll her eyes at that. "Did you have to mention that in front of the _Maverick Hunter_?" She hissed as X gave them a look.

"So? They cut and run when you pull your drills out. Plus the nobles are too prideful to admit that a schoolboy and a rather normalish looking Reploid scared off a half dozen big security guys." He lied. "Anyways, I want everyone pressed against the door-side wall of the elevator before we stop, if I'm right, they've activated at least one of the sentry guns that the military had installed to defend against infiltration.

Any further conversation was cut off by the elevator stopping, the four of them pressing up against the elevator wall as Lelouch instructed.

"How's it look?" He asked Suzaku, whom was using his phone camera to recon the situation.

"It's just as you said, there's a sentry gun there… UA 571, B model firing 7.62mm by the looks of it, the input lag on these things is tight, 0.3 seconds at max for tracking capabilities." Suzaku recited from memory.

"Alright, if X and C2 time this right, we can distract the gun and destroy it with minimal-" Lelouch began as Suzaku suddenly bolted out of the elevator.

"Oh what in the _fuck_." C2 gasped in shock as they watched the gun lock onto Suzaku and begin blazing away as it tried to predict his course.

Only for him to _outrun_ it's ability to track him, the young man darting up along a _wall_ before kicking off of it and smashing the turret clean off the ceiling mount with his signature 'Kuru kick'.

"Okay… You see that, _that_ was just fucking **stupid**." The sole female of the group said aloud with her hands on her hips as Suzaku turned to face them while the other two processed what they just witnessed, utterly speechless.

"Well, what are you lot waiting for… Let's go…" He said as they slowly filed out of the elevator. "Nunnally's waiting for us."

* * *

The four of them marched into a massive vault containing several reprocessing pools for the block's water supply.

Atop the control and inspection bridge sat Nunnally, tied up in her wheelchair.

"Nunnally!" Suzaku and Lelouch shouted in unison as X stopped, anticipating a trap while C2 paused midway through her own charge as the boys continued forwards in an attempt to reach her.

She glanced back at X, noting his hesitation and joining him in it.

 _"This was_ too _easy to be anything but a trap..."_ She realized.

"Lelouch and Suzaku… Is that you?" She asked, not noticing that X and C2 were present just yet.

"Yeah, I'll cut you lo-" Lelouch began before Suzaku stopped him.

"Suzaku!?"

"Wait… Up there…" He stated, having noticed the pendulum like object slowly swaying over Nunnally's head.

"A bomb…" Lelouch said grimly.

"Looks like it's been crafted out of an old model sledgehammer anti-ship missile…" Suzaku noted with a frown. "Shaped charge to direct the force of the blast down at Nunnally." He added. "Even if she's untouched by the explosion the shockwave'll still kill her."

"It's probably connected to both an external and an internal motion sensor, if it stops swaying or is jolted too much it'll go off, but if it detects Nunnally moving or someone moving to get her…" Lelouch continued as his mind ran like clockwork, trying to figure out how to save his little sister.

"It'll go off then as well…" Suzaku grimly finished for Lelouch.

"That's right. It's also tamper proof as well, so cutting _any_ wires will set it off." Gareth stated as he and Berkana entered the room behind the four of them as X whirled around and aimed his buster at the two. "And now we have all five of you _right_ where we want you."

C2 backed away nervously, snarling at her helplessness to do anything without giving both herself and Lelouch away.

"I'd say that our bait has no further purpose…" Berkana said as Lelouch's eyes widened in horror as she pulled out a remote detonator. "From where you're standing it must seem like an eighteen karat run of bad luck. Truth is... The game was rigged from the start." She purred softly as she pressed the switch.

" **NOOOOO!** " Lelouch screamed as Suzaku tackled him to the ground instinctively while he tried to rush for Nunnally.

* * *

Time seemed to slow for C2 as her computerized mind worked in overdrive to process what was going on. Around her Suzaku and Lelouch stopped mid-fall while X froze in the midst of firing at Gareth, whom was moving to strike X in return.

" _I can't save Nunnally without revealing myself… And even then, Berkana and Gareth would strike me down before I could even get close to her…"_ The Reploid thought as her mind moved far faster than the events around her.

And yet…

" _Maybe… Just maybe… I can alter the outcome… It's risky as hell but…"_

She logged the following commands in her mind for immediate activation in sequence. Armor. Flash Man Data Set.

[TWIN GEAR SYSTEM ENABLED.]

She had no idea if her inspired and completely insane idea would even _work_.

Yet… She refused to just roll over and accept 'fate'. Even if meant tampering with forces she didn't understand.

She had mere **microseconds** to pull this off, any delay and Nunnally _would_ die.

 _"Machine reflexes don't fail me now..."_

Her mind slowed back down and then everything was a blur as she quickly fired off the time stopper, encompassing the entire room.

Taking a step back, she noticed an afterimage of her unarmored form and frowned, likely left as a result of the twin gear system being used with the Flash Man data.

 _"I'd love to study this phenomena in more depth... But I don't have the time so to speak."_

She shoved the clone backwards so that they'd hit the water, hoping it'd look like she slipped

Moving quickly, she rushed over to Nunnally, everything now frozen in time for real, and picked up the Girl's wheelchair, rushing to get her out of the way before the brief window afforded by the time stopper closed and temporality was returned to normal.

She felt her systems strain and began to rush towards Gareth as she let time flow again and shut down the twin gear system.

As everything returned to normal all hell broke loose, the bomb exploded, Lelouch and Suzaku slammed into the grating, her short lived time clone hit the water and vanished after descending into the depths and X was forced back by a strike from Gareth while Berkana realized that Nunnally was still alive.

Switching to her normal battle mode, C2 lunged at Gareth after closing the distances with a burst from her leg and foot thrusters, her arm drills whirring menacingly as hot air and vaporized coolant vented from her joints.

"Back off!" She snarled as X blinked in surprise while Gareth barely held her assault back.

"How…" The blue armored hunter whispered.

"NUNNALLY!" Lelouch screamed in anguish, believing that his sister was dead.

"LELOUCH!" The girl cried back, confused and terrified by the events going on around her.

It was then that Lelouch realized that his sister was still _alive_.

As did an equally confused and relieved Suzaku.

"What in the…" The Japanese boy murmured before both had their attention drawn to the battle taking place.

Lelouch's jaw dropped in realization as he spotted C2 in her armored form battling Gareth with X, the two of them tag teaming the Knight-like Reploid and forcing him back, C2 attacking up close while X forced him to keep defending lest he get hit by charged buster shots.

" _How…"_ He thought as the two of them stood up and rushed over to Nunnally

Berkana slipped past them and rushed for the girl with her scepter raised, only to be greeted by the sudden appearance of Suzaku landing in front of her, the boy forcing her back with disturbing ease despite him only being human.

"How in the… How can a mere _human_ force a Reploid back!?" She demanded as Suzaku stared her down while Lelouch ran over to Nunnally's side and reassured her that everything would be okay.

From the aside Gareth glanced over at Berkana's distress, aware that his mistress was ill suited for combat.

His distraction cost him his life as C2 punctured his torso armor with both of her diamond tipped ceratanium drills and ripped apart enough of his internals to deal fatal damage.

The look of shock and disbelief on his face as his systems died was gratifying to her after all he'd done.

She'd barely had three encounters with him, and she considered that three too many.

C2 withdrew her drills as he fell over, leaking oil and and coolant while Berkana screamed in anguish.

"NO!" She howled in dismay as C2 turned to look at her.

"Give up, your knight is dead and you're outgunned and outnumbered." She stated calmly, not in the mood for more bullshit from the Maverick. "You have no cards left to play."

Berkana chuckled. "Oh but I do, I learned a little thing while Mao went fishing for information after the Battle at Narita… I wonder what the Elevens will think when it's revealed that Genbu Kururugi was _murdered_ by his own son." She cackled softly, causing everyone to turn to Suzaku in shock.

Suzaku reeled back, his eyes unfocused as Berkana shoved the hyperventilating youth away and bolted while Lelouch froze in place next to Nunnally, whom was equally stunned by the revelation.

She didn't get far as both X and C2 recovered and each fired a fully charged shot into her torso and sent her tumbling to the floor.

A follow up shot to the head from C2 prevented possibility of the sorceress styled Reploid getting any last words in.

X frowned at the smoking husk of Berkana as he powered down his buster and looked at the armored Reploid next to him, noting that her appearance was too timely to be coincidental and that Zero couldn't possibly have known what was going on here, otherwise he'd have moved sooner.

C2 glanced at him before switching to the Shadow Man data set and backing into a corner before vanishing.

"Typical…" X sighed as he glanced worriedly over at Suzaku, whom was being tended to by Lelouch after he'd taken a moment to untie Nunnally.

A white painted metal hand grasped onto the grating as C2 hauled herself out of the water.

"Ugh… What'd I miss…" She groaned as X chuckled and helped her to her feet.

"A lot… I was wondering what that splash I heard was…"

C2 glanced around. "Hell of a mess…"

"Yeah…" X agreed, keeping his suspicions about C2 to himself for the moment. "Yeah it is…"

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Some time, Maverick Hunter Officers swarmed over Ashford while C2 and Lelouch watched them from the window of his room, having been whisked there by X to avoid being questioned.

For once, Lelouch thanked that his secret about being a Prince had been leaked to a single individual as X had given a statement about his involvement in Lelouch's place.

That the investigators had been distracted by all the erasure victims coming back online was an added bonus.

"So, what exactly happened?" He inquired as he looked at C2 "Don't dodge the question either."

C2 looked at the floor. "I saved Nunnally…"

"How? Moving that fast is impossible in a split second."

She glanced away from him and held a pause for a while.

"Not if you stop time…" She whispered.

That caught Lelouch off guard. "What…"

"I said, not if you stop time…"

"How?!" He demanded, genuinely stunned by this revelation.

"I don't know how, and I don't particularly want to use that tech again…" She admitted, much to Lelouch's chagrin.

"But-"

"Don't but me! I could feel my systems burning up when I did that… The amount of power required to sustain a temporal freeze over an area like that is immense, I only held it for about thirty seconds and that was me _pushing_ my limit…" The Reploid stated, shivering as she clutched at her torso with her arms. "Besides... Tampering with such a fundamental force of _reality_ as we know it could have wide-reaching consequences..."

Lelouch let the subject drop, deciding not to push her if she'd almost been killed by it. "I see…" He looked away before glancing at her as she calmed down again.

"I can't possibly repay you enough for saving Nunnally…" He said after a brief silence. "The fact that you risked self-destruction to do so..."

"Make it up to me by not manipulating me again for one…" She replied simply, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall.

A grunting assent was her answer. She had no idea how long he'd stick to it, especially if he lost his cool and made a rash decision, but it was better than nothing for the moment.

C2 hummed softly. "Well… Now that this issue has been solved… We have one last item to attend to on our agenda."

Lelouch nodded, remembering his plan to introduce Shirley to the core Black Knights from Shinjuku once the incident had blown over. "Agreed, I'll call Shirley and we'll head out as soon as most of the Hunters have left."

"Roger…"

* * *

 **September 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Warehouse 23, Shinjuku Ghetto, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Kallen paced around impatiently as she and the other core Black Knights waited for Zero to arrive like he'd told them he would. Each member wearing their black and silver trimmed service uniforms.

"What's taking so long…?" Tamaki groaned as he leaned back. "Bored out of my mind…"

"Just be glad Izumi's group is handling a lot of the workload Tamaki, otherwise you'd have twice as much to get back to." Yoshida joked while Sugiyama and Minami chuckled.

Ohgi raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

"Say, what've you been doing these past few days Ohgi, you've gotten pretty tense…" Inoue asked him while Diethard was content to read the news on his phone nearby.

Ohgi looked over at her. "It's something I need to speak to Zero privately about." He said, while he didn't want anything untoward to happen to Chigusa, the fact that Zero had readily confirmed his being a Britannian to himself, Tamaki, and Kallen after the meeting with Kirihara left him with a sour taste in his mouth at the thought of not informing his leader.

In all likelihood Zero would probably just tell him to keep her under surveillance and report any changes in her behavior anyways so it's not like he had anything to lose.

"Well, if it's that important." Inoue conceded as Zero and C2 walked in.

Kallen seemed almost ecstatic to see him. "Zero!"

The masked man nodded. ="Kallen."= He acknowledged as he and C2 stood in the doorway.

That caught her by surprise. "Why aren't either of you coming in…?" She inquired as C2 gave Zero a wry smirk, her visor hiding the look in her eyes while Lelouch's own pensive face was hidden by his mask.

="Because I'm about to introduce the newest member of our core command staff. Q2, please stand aside for her."= He instructed.

"By your command." She acknowledged as she stepped aside.

If it were physically possible Kallen's jaw would've hit the floor.

Because standing there, between the two, was Shirley, in a Black Knights women's service uniform.

"SHIRLEY!?" Kallen shrieked in confusion and some mild dismay.

The others were stunned that _another_ full-blooded Britannian was standing among them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Zero!? What's going on!?" Tamaki asked as he stood up.

="Miss Fenette has joined our cause after being informed of the root cause of her father's death."= Zero explained to them.

That caught them all by surprise.

"Explain." Diethard said as he leaned in, interested.

="Since Diethard wasn't among us when I last explained Code R to you, I will give the fuller version with details that I omitted last time. Some years ago Prince Clovis got an idea in his head that if he was to become more influential in Britannia, he would need to provide something of importance to the military."=

Zero took a pause before continuing. ="Given Prince Schneizel's dominance of most advanced technologies, he chose the one arena that his brother hadn't yet forayed into. High End Reploids. It was here that he discovered Q2 in a stasis chamber not unlike that of the prime template for all Reploids, X."=

Diethard's eyes lit up at that, his attention fully on Zero. As was everyone else.

="However, he didn't have a full research team of engineers, programmers, and technicians to reverse engineer her. So Clovis began scouting any talent his siblings hadn't picked up, and began poaching those he was allowed to get away with."= Zero stated as he took another pause, this one deliberately done for the sake of theatrics.

="One of these engineers was Joseph Fenette. Whom was lied to about the true nature of Code R… By the time he saw the truth, he was in far too deep to leave without signing a death warrant for himself and his family."=

There were looks of disbelief and anger on the faces of those assembled, only Diethard and Kallen knowing anywhere near the _true_ extent of the crimes of Britannia's elite.

"And then we stole the container holding her while she was being transferred…" Ohgi noted.

="And the rest is history… Up until Narita at least, where another Code R satellite site was located, Q2 encountered Fenette and decided to get answers out of him about the memories that had been lost or removed by Clovis's programmers…"=

C2 looked away in shame. "The Maverick Hunters ambushed me… And then… The Guren triggered the landslide."

Kallen looked down at her feet in shame as Zero looked over at Shirley and nodded.

The ginger slowly walked over to Kallen and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey… It's not your fault… You didn't know he was there…"

"Still… We killed a lot of innocent people that day." Kallen sighed. "People we swore to protect…"

="And we shall not use such destructive tactics again…"= Zero informed her. ="I was too arrogant before Narita, believing I could use any amount of force I deemed necessary without incurring a cost of innocent lives. It was a wake up call I sorely needed."=

The Black Knights all voiced their agreements on the subject, as they too had grown cocky due to their string of relatively bloodless victories.

"How'd you even get involved anyways…?" Kallen asked, finally voicing the nagging question.

Shirley smiled sadly. "You know that Mao guy Zero warned you about… He almost made me kill Lulu but failed because he talked me down… Had Zero and Q2 not arrived when they did… Well, we found a loaded semi-auto rifle in the tram car…" She said, leaving the obvious implications unspoken.

"I see… Thank you Zero…" Kallen said.

Behind his mask, Lelouch smiled softly. ="It was the least I could do to make up for mistakes and missteps I've made."= He stated.

"So, now that everything is settled, what'll be miss Fenette's role in our organization?" Diethard inquired.

="Shirley will be our new chief quartermaster, as the Ashford web page lists her as having that role as well."= Zero clarified. ="Therefore she'll be in charge of making sure all of our supplies and equipment are in order and accounted for."=

There were several grumbles about Tamaki misusing equipment that he ignored.

="Now, if anyone has anything else to say, now is the time."=

Ohgi finally stood up. "Zero… I need to speak to you in private about something urgent." He said.

Zero nodded. ="Very well then, we'll speak in one of the management offices."= The masked man stated as he turned and walked off while Shirley and the others made their introductions, leaving C2 to watch over her.

* * *

Ohgi closed the door behind him as Zero stared out the window like a Gargoyle.

="So, what is so sensitive that you need to speak to me in private…?"=

Sighing, Ohgi began to speak. "Several days ago I discovered a badly injured Britannian officer on a breakwater in Yokohama."

That immediately had Lelouch on edge. ="I see…"=

"I went over to aid them, not recognizing the fact they were an enemy combatant at the time, and they mentioned seeing your face…"

" _So… Someone from the military did see my face."_ He thought grimly. ="What did you do with them…?"=

"I intended to bring them to you once I confirmed they had seen you without your mask. Not that I would've pried into it too much… Kallen and I have already talked about it and we both figured you'd abandon us if we tried to force your identity into the open."

Lelouch let out the breath he'd been holding. ="I take it something didn't go according to plan…?"=

"No, apparently they'd been out for at least a day and had suffered serious blood loss, so far she has a case of amnesia… Which makes her behavior all the more surprising since she's been nothing but nice to me."

=" _She_?"=

There was a pensive look on Ohgi's face before he continued. "I identified her as a Britannian Warrant Officer from the Pureblood faction by the name of Viletta Nu after checking a blood sample against the Britannian military databanks we've hacked."

Lelouch almost broke out into laughter, remembering the name all the way back from Shinjuku, marked in the cockpit of the Sutherland he'd stolen back then. _"Of all the ironic twists."_ He thought with a knowing grin on his face. ="And what's her current condition?"= He inquired, keeping his tone neutral.

"So far she remembers nothing, but given her lack of over racism towards me due to her amnesia despite being a pureblood…"

="Now you understand what I mean by Britannia herself being our enemy."= Zero finished for him.

"Yes… Britannia has nurtured her people into being monsters towards those who are not them, and the elite all the more so towards even their own people." Ohgi affirmed.

Lelouch relaxed, for now he could firmly count Ohgi as an ally.

="Thank you for informing me of this… If you notice any changes or signs Viletta Nu is remembering her past, inform me immediately and I'll send Q2 to detain her, if she catches you off guard she might well kill you."= The Masked Man noted.

Ohgi gulped audibly but said nothing further.

="You're dismissed."= Zero said, Ohgi nodding and then exiting the room as he watched the others burst into laughter, likely at Tamaki's expense again given the man's aggravation.

" _Why do I have the gut feeling that everything is going so much smoother than it should be?"_ He thought as he watched them.

Then again, he didn't mind that in the slightest. Shirley had been accepted as a Black Knight, C2 was working with him again for the moment, Nunnally was safe and sound, Mao was dead, as were Berkana and Gareth, Ohgi trusted him enough to come clean with such an important bit of information.

He felt like _nothing_ could ruin any of this for him.

He never noticed the shimmer of air as the Dimensional Supervisor's avatar disappeared, having observed the latest major divergence in the timeline personally.

* * *

 **September 25, 2017 ATB.**

 **Unknown Location, Britannian Homeland.**

Shadow Man walked up to Serges and half-bowed.

"Report." The diminutive Reploid ordered.

The Robot Master nodded. "Berkana and Gareth have been terminated by the last creations of Lalinde and Light." He stated calmly.

Serges smirked and then began to laugh. "Excellent! That means the final act rapidly approaches! I want you to contact Colonel Madd in preparation for this, make no delay!"

"As you wish Doctor." Shadow Man replied as he walked back into the shadows from which he derived his name and vanished.

* * *

 **AN: I keep realizing how long these ANs actually get at times, but anyways, while I was finishing this up I had the nagging plot idea to combine Code Geass and the _Yukikaze_ universe (Which inspired much of Ace Combat mind you if you're thinking this is some minor thing), making many the cast members of the Faery Air Force and Special Air Force while replacing Knightmares with hyper-advanced 5.5th and 6th Gen combat planes with the ever inscrutable JAM as the main opposition (although keeping with the 70's era novels, the FAF and SAF would not exactly be fond of eachother, particularly since the SAF and their nearly irreplaceable Super Sylphs have strict no engagement orders due to their strategic and tactical recon and data collection roles since the JAM just blow up anything the FAF tries to put in orbit on the Faery side of the gateway, thus leading the FAF pilots to largely detest them while the SAF pilots just grow cold and distant from those outside their units due to the nature of their work).**

 **Example: C.C. is an FFR-31MR Super Sylph pilot in the SAF with Mao and later Lelouch as her EWO in a Super Sylph codenamed 'Shinkiro' while Kallen would be an FAF pilot, piloting an obsolete FA-1 Fand-1, initially, only to later join a SAF unit after most of her squadron is wiped out during a battle with the JAM and pilots a next gen aircraft designed by Rakshata codenamed 'Guren'.**

 **Suzaku of course would be in a rival prototype, codenamed 'Lancelot' under a different SAF unit run by Lloyd (Possibly Ikaruga and Avalon squadrons respectively in reference to the airships), and would've been the sole factor that saved what remained of Kallen's old squadron. Thus, given the latter's pride, both would be at eachother's throats.**

 **They'd also be occasionally interacting with Rei Fukai, the main protagonist of the Yukikaze series, and his AI controlled superplane, the titular Yukikaze, initially a Super Sylph but later transferring to the unique FFR-41MR Mave following the previous plane being shot down, the latter of whom, along with 'her' FRX-99 drone counterparts (the Mave was modified from an FRX-99 prototype to feature a cockpit for Fukai due to his connection with and implicit trust in Yukikaze), makes the imposing realization upon them that they, the pilots, are _not_ indispensable for air combat despite their prowess in the cockpit.**

 **As for Lelouch's statements here and earlier and then his actions later, we all know Lelouch knows and admits he's a massive hypocrite, given that by the end of R1 he's outright lying to Nunnally even though he promised her he wouldn't.**

 **Not sure if I'd do much more with it than a one-shot, since I'm scrambling at times to get Code Reploid's chapters edited for release, but it's just a thing that I thought about.**


	19. Stage 19: Murphy's Knight

**AN: Thus, we continue the inevitable plunge towards the Black Rebellion.**

 **Also as for the irregular upload, I upgraded to a new custom build PC over my crappy old laptop, and was using it to game for the past week or so.**

 **Apologies.**

 **Also the title name can be summed up as a running joke for CG. "If Suzaku can possibly show up to ruin Lelouch's plans he will, unless he is actively working to aid them."**

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch sighed as he contemplated the previous day's events again.

" _Suzaku… I finally understand you now…"_

Including the reveal that Suzaku had murdered his own father.

" _Frankly, he's at odds with himself, because he used to be different… He never placed any importance on another person, in other words, a spoiled brat…"_ He thought. _"It was tough enough for me to kill my own half-brother, someone I hadn't seen in eight years no less and had thus grown impossibly distant from… Yet Suzaku killed his own father when he was only ten… I'm aware they didn't have the best relationship, but still… To carry that burden for nearly a decade…?"_

Lelouch turned to look at Suzaku, whom was drawing away in a sketchbook along with the rest of the class.

"Come on Lelouch! Quit moving around will ya?" Rivalz grumbled as he was forced to stop by Lelouch turning his head.

It was only then that Lelouch remembered that _he_ was one of the two current drawing subjects for his class.

" _Oh, crap."_

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the smuggest grin twinkling in C2's eyes as she stood stock still, having locked her joints for her part in the sketching.

Although to be fair, the alternative for her had been having her forearms removed so that she could be the Venus De Milo instead of a generic 'knight at ready' pose.

He still didn't know where Milly got the sword and shield from as they weren't simple props from the drama department but actual heraldic items.

Although, in all likelihood they may have been gifts to the Ashfords from his mother after she became Empress.

Lelouch sat up slightly. "Oh, sorry guys." He said as reset to what he thought his position was.

"No, no! Your sight line was lower!" Rivalz groused.

Lelouch tilted his head down. "Like this?" He said, mumbling into his hand.

"Too far, a little higher!"

He titled his head up slightly. "Good?"

Rivalz sighed and got up. "Now your expression's totally different.

C2 resisted the urge to break out into laughter.

"This went like this, that went like that, and this was here!" Rivalz rattled off as he adjusted Lelouch's pose and posture manually.

"There!" He said as he let go of Lelouch, leaving him looking off to the side with a shit eating grin.

C2 began actually laughing after taking a look at him, unlocking her joints so that she wouldn't inadvertently topple over.

"That's not how he was!" One of the girls exclaimed.

"I like the frowny face more!" Another fumed.

"Come on, I like him clueless!" Rivalz protested as C2 finally gave out.

"I can't even!" C2 chortled as she finally fell over in a loud crash of metal, causing several students to jump in their seats. "This is so stupid!"

" _I'll get you for this you damn Pizza Reploid."_ Lelouch promised mentally.

"Shirley… Don't we have math for first period?" Nina asked as she sat down next to the other girl after hurriedly entering the room.

"Where've you been since Sunday Nina? Don't you remember it's the first half of the two weeks of art? It's been this way since Prince Clovis decreed that final school week of September and the first week of October in Area 11 would be devoted to the arts two years back." The ginger replied as she waited to continue sketching Lelouch.

" _Just about the only_ useful _thing he did."_ Lelouch thought darkly.

Nina looked away sheepishly, having gotten so caught up in her calculations and fantasies of Euphemia and that mysterious Reploid that she'd forgotten.

"Oh… That's right…"

* * *

 **September 26, 2017**

 **Prince Clovis Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"We plan to open the Prince Clovis Memorial Museum to the public during the second of the Two Weeks of Art, the first week will be an invite only affair open to the nobility, foreign dignitaries, and the higher ranks of the Military and police force." The curator explained to Euphie as he toured her around the museum. "You, Princess Euphemia, will select a winner from among these submitted works to be displayed as the centerpiece of one of our galleries."

Euphie resisted the urge to frown, she knew much of Clovis's opinions on art, and she sincerely believed he'd find many of the pieces hanging off the walls here lacking.

Euphie stopped in front of a naturalistic painting of a pair of old-style Japanese cottages. "Oh, this one's nice." She said, finding the simple beauty of it pleasing compared to the bombastic and brownnosing nature of many of the pieces featuring her father.

She sincerely doubted he himself would consider them worth much more than kindling.

"I particularly like this painting." She told the curator.

"It is _regrettable_ that our investigation revealed that the artist of this painting happens to be _one_ - _quarter_ eleven." The curator explained, his tone and expression indicating he'd prefer it to not be shown as a result.

Darlton raised an eyebrow as Euphie's face hardened. "Perhaps it _shouldn't_ have been displayed her in the first place then." She stated, testing whether the man would say as much or not.

"Well it's difficult maintaining the delicate balance with our public." He said, trying to weasel his way out of a delicate situation with a Royal. "Anyway, take a look at that painting right there." He said, gesturing at a portrait of Charles at the apex of Clovis's funeral speech.

"This piece was painted by the Son of Marquess Nicolai." He said.

Euphie knew from but a look at it that her father, again, would he have actually _cared_ , would've been **greatly** insulted by the painting. For it made him look like a chimpanzee rather than a man.

" _Clearly Marquess Nicolai should've invested more time and effort into sponsoring a more competent instructor for her son."_ Euphie thought as she frowned slightly. _"Even the most… Unique, artists rarely intentionally stray into subject matters that could be construed as questioning the Empire too much… Or_ insulting _it,_ _intentionally or unintentionally,_ _for that matter."_

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights multipurpose vessel** _ **Kamoi**_ **, Yokohama port concession, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Ohgi smiled softly as he looked at his Bento that Chigusa had prepared for him.

" _Octopus hotdogs."_ He noted as he looked at the cartoonish hot dog halves with their tiny little dot eyes, preferring not to think too hard about her past at the moment. _"Hmph… That Girl…"_ He thought before he was interrupted by Inoue.

"Excuse me… Ohgi?" She said as he slammed the lid down on the case and turned around to begin to deny what she as about to say.

"Did you see anything?"

"See… What?" She replied with some confusion, raising an eyebrow.

"Nevermind. What is it?"

"We have visitors…" She informed him. "They also have an introduction from Kyoto." She added as she turned around.

Ohgi followed her line of sight and his jaw dropped as the Four Holy Swords bowed to him.

He snapped to his feet, still holding the Bento box. "You're the… Four Holy Swords!" He gasped in awe as Kusukabe walked in with a handful of his own troops, all wearing Black Knights uniforms in contrast to the JLF ones the Swords were wearing.

Ohgi bowed as Senba gave a quizzical look at Kusukabe out of the corner of his eye before looking back at Ohgi.

"I'll get straight to the point here. We've come to the you today to ask for you your help." The eldest member of the Swords stated grimly.

"Uh, what do you mean…?" Ohgi asked, confused as to why the Swords would personally request the aid of the Black Knights.

Kusukabe spoke up. "Lieutenant Colonel Todoh was arrested by Repliforce troopers several days ago after buying time for Asahina and Chiba to escape the sting, intel reports he is being held at the Naval Detention Center in Yokosuka and is to be executed soon, but we're not sure _when_." The former JLF Colonel stated, his own expression stern.

Ohgi's eyes widened as he realized what this could mean. "I'll contact Zero." He said and rushed off.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"I see. In that case, we'll help them." Lelouch said after Ohgi explained what was going on to him.

Next to him C2 stretched and made sure there was no lasting issues from locking up her limbs earlier.

["Are you sure?"]

"The Black Knights fight for the cause of justice. There's nothing odd about that." He affirmed without changing his lack of an expression.

On the other end of the line there was a pause as Ohgi relayed Zero's willingness to help.

"We'll use assembly Method B-13, take the sectioned Knightmares via course 18. You can have Diethard handle any checkpoints that may pop up, the Britannians are still corrupt enough to let their own through without any real checks. Also, alert those who are to rendezvous with us." He instructed as he hung up and put his phone back in his pocket.

C2 sighed and mumbled something about Lelouch using the same damn stairwell every time as Nemo walked up, wearing an Ashford Girl's uniform herself with her blond hair tied into twintails.

"Sorry I couldn't meet with the Chinese Federation." She stated as Lelouch shrugged.

"Don't worry about it, I've revised all of my plans with them anyways after C2 noted that they're almost done marshaling their troops for a full-scale invasion based on Australian commercial satellite imagery she's been looking through." He replied in a hushed tone. "Making any changes in your usefulness to me will only hinder our plans."

"Besides, two chess pieces I've been wanting will be _mine_ today, and with any luck. A _third_." He said as he glanced out the window, watching Suzaku wash his gym clothes clean of the latest batch of racial slurs and nationalist insults.

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Staging Area, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Today is the day Kyoshiro Todoh is slated to be executed." Guilford informed Cornelia.

"I won't be present for that now that the Japanese Liberation Front is largely defunct." She told him as her troops waited about for their turn to load for deployment to Ishikawa. "Is everything handled?"

"Of course." Her Knight confirmed.

A thought came to Cornelia. "No, wait a minute… Let _him_ handle the execution, Liath suggested it to me as a way to prove his loyalty before she returned to Shikane Island with her troops." She said as the latest train arrived to accept the Sutherlands she was taking with her.

Guilford nodded at her, understanding _exactly_ who she meant.

"Viceroy?" Euphie asked as she strode over.

"Sorry to summon you like this." She apologized. "How's everything at the museum?"

"The dedication is later on, of greater importance though, the NAC reported there was unrest in Ishikawa." Euphie noted.

"Probably backed by the EU, Soviets, or the Chinese Federation. And there have also been sightings of Gun-Rus and Tierens. Still, it's our chance to bring Hokuriku firmly under control, hence why I'm deploying in force." She stated, much to Euphie's consternation. "I'll leave Darlton here to head up security while I'm gone. If anything happens, consult him or Colonel, who's currently running counter-maverick ops in the countryside."

Guilford handed her a book. "Also, concerning your search for a Knight…" She handed the book to Euphie in turn, who opened it and gazed at it in shock.

Inside was a list of personnel from throughout the Empire.

"You may choose any one of them to be your Knight, they're all excellent soldiers from respected families. My focus on Zero has caused me to let your inaction on this subject slide for far too long Euphie, you _must_ choose _someone_ as your Knight before I return from Hokuriku, or _I_ shall make the choice for you in the name of your own safety." Cornelia warned her.

"I understand..." Euphie acknowledged, knowing that this was where her sister had truly drawn the line on her dithering.

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Yes, the pond at the villa _does_ freeze solid in the winter." Nunnally clarified to Suzaku as they continued their conversation about their former homes. "Although, big brother scolded me once when he caught me skating on it."

"We used to have a pond too at the Kururugi shrine, you'd know it better but Lelouch was too worried to let you go near it in case you fell in… It was small but I used to catch zarigani- I mean crawdads, all the time." He said, catching his slip-up into Japanese in case there were any passersby.

"You would catch crawdads? How?" Nunnally inquired as she stopped sketching on her artpad.

"It's simple, you just tie a string to a frog's back leg and dip it into the water, then wait for one to snap at the bait and yank when they do." Suzaku informed her.

C2 glanced at Lelouch as she leaned against the wall, adjusting the shades she'd purchased despite not really needing them thanks to filters in her the cameras that constituted her eyes.

He shrugged at her, giving her a look that said he'd been roped into the crawdad antics at least once.

"Huh? Frogs? As in those things that sit on Lily pads that go 'croak' and get eaten by the French?" Nunnally asked innocently.

Suzaku chuckled. "Yeah, but in Japanese they go "kero-kero, kero-kero."" He told her, making the noise for added emphasis.

"Huh? Kero?" Nunnally questioned, bewildered by the difference in the noise used between languages.

"Yup! Kero-kero!" Suzaku replied, causing Nunnally to giggle as he too began laughing.

Lelouch looked over at the two.

" _If things continue at this pace and keep proceeding according to plan… I won't be able to stay with Nunnally any longer."_ He thought as the Reploid cocked her head at him inquisitively. _"That affair with Gareth and Berkana also drove home the fact that I need someone to protect my little sister, and I can't just spare C2 from the struggle to do so."_

" _Whoever that person will be, if Nunnally is the one gives them a reason to live, then…"_

It was at that point that Suzaku noted the intensity in Lelouch's eyes.

"Um, Lelouch?"

Lelouch sat up straighter. "I need to tell you…"

He in turn was interrupted by the most unlikely person.

"SUZAKU!" Cecile shouted as she rushed up to the patio, C2 raising an eyebrow at the woman, whom was dressed in her orange-brown ASEEC uniform. "Lloyd says it's urgent!" She said after pausing to catch her breath.

"Who's that?" Lelouch asked warily.

"One of my colleagues, she's a member of the Engineering Corps." Suzaku replied.

"Friends of yours…?" Cecile asked as she tried to catch her breath.

Suzaku glanced at Lelouch before replying. "Yes."

Cecile had a pensive look on her face. "I'm sorry, but I need to pull Suzaku away from you for a while."

"Um… But… Um…" Suzaku said as he glanced around hesitantly while Nunnally titled her head up slightly.

Lelouch turned to look at his friend. "Don't worry, I told you, it's all right. The remains of those Reploids were taken by the Hunters for processing remember?"

"Right, see you then." Suzaku told Lelouch as he walked away.

"Please come over again Suzaku!" Nunnally called out to him as he began to leave.

"I will." He promised.

"Suzaku! One last thing." Lelouch said, causing the other boy to stop.

"Huh?"

"When you return, there's something that I want to… Discuss…" He said cryptically. "It's an important matter."

"Uh-oh. I'm nervous." Suzaku joked as he waved at Lelouch before heading off again. "I'll talk to you when I get back." He assured his friend.

"Well it seems that Suzaku's really important to them." Nunnally noted as Lelouch frowned, wondering why his friend had been called up so suddenly. "I'm glad." The girl said innocently.

Lelouch turned to look at her as C2 watched Suzaku and Cecile disappear into the distance.

"Nunnally, you seem… Fond... Of Suzaku." He observed. "Am I right?"

"I adore him." She replied, much to Lelouch's shock. "But of course, I love you more than anyone, Lelouch." She assured him, not understanding the real intentions behind the question.

C2 resisted the urge to snort, as any implication of incest jokes would likely send Lelouch into a rage.

And Nunnally was too sweet and innocent for that kind of humor anyways.

"I see." He replied simply.

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Girl's Dorm, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Shirley! I'm gonna go on ahead!" Sophie said to her roomate as she headed out.

"Oh, just wait up, will ya!" Shirley said as she tried to finish doing her hair.

She fumbled with the clip and it hit the ground, the girl sighing. "Ugh, and to think Lulu wouldn't let me come on whatever he's doing tonight…" She sighed, noting that Zero had called up several cells of the Black Knights for what was undoubtedly a major operation.

He was still far too protective of her for her own liking, but it _was_ Lelouch after all, stubborn is as stubborn will be like Milly always said.

Especially since it literally took C2 threatening to kill him to get him to back down from whatever he was going to do to her, something that constantly nagged at her.

She knelt down to get the hairclip and frowned as she spotted the crunched-up note in the gap between her desk and dresser.

" _To think, that this little note is how I got involved in a_ revolution _against my own country…"_ She thought as she grabbed both objects and stood up, putting the clip in her hair and heading out after carefully tearing the note to shreds to make is as illegible as possible.

* * *

 **Prince Clovis Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Sub-Viceroy, is it true that no Eleven companies were used in the construction of this museum?" A reporter asked at the press conference Euphie was holding.

Darlton frowned almost imperceptibly. _"Damn Vultures."_ He thought darkly.

"Well… With regard to that question… I…" She stuttered, not having expected this line of questioning to be even relevant.

Darlton pulled his own mic up. "We're looking into it right now, so we have no answer at this time." He stated calmly and clearly, having grown used to dealing with the media over the course of his career.

"Idiot." One of the reporter's colleagues hissed. "Why even bother asking Princess Euphemia about politics." She said as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

Another reporter stood up. "Keriman from interstate news. Your Highness, there have been rumors lately that you're close to choosing your knight."

Darlton's lips twitched this time. _"I'll have to find the imbeciles who're spouting off more than they should while drinking."_

"Uhm… A knight… Yes, well, you see I'm…" Euphie stuttered apprehensively, unused to speaking before large crowds of people still.

The curator, noting her distress, spoke up. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, we respectfully ask that you _please_ limit your questions to those concerning the museum only." He instructed them. "This is an event being held for the Museum's dedication, not a general press conference. Thank you."

Euphie looked at him and then down at her lap, distressed by her inability to answer questions that most of her other siblings, Clovis and Lelouch included, would have spent little time addressing.

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement Streets, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Hey, I heard from Brown Bear, Salmon's group is moving in." One Black Knights member said to another.

"Gotcha, I'll tell Ohgi that it's too soon to reel with the main boat." Another said, referring to the current codephrase for the organized central forces directly under Zero's command, the four primary combined arms companies of the Black Knights.

* * *

"I told you not to bunch up all the hydro lines in one place." Minami grumbled at Yoshida and Tamaki.

"That's why I said it was different than a Burai!" Yoshida snapped, focusing his ire on Tamaki as he and Minami worked on the Guren Mark Two.

* * *

"Are you sure it's a good idea to throw in with the Black Knights?" Asahina asked as the Holy Swords watched them work.

"Can you think of any other way to rescue Colonel Todoh?" Chiba questioned in turn.

"Beats waiting around with Hiryuu or the other MSDF remnants in the Indian ocean for Britannia to give enough of a shit to come and kill us." Urabe noted morbidly. "There's also what Kyoto said, that they'd lend us some of the new pre-production types based on the Guren if we joined up with them." He added after remembering that factoid.

"Still, their principles seem to be somewhat _off_." Asahina quipped, noting Diethard and the other Britannians who'd signed up with the Black Knights.

Chiba frowned at Asahina. "We're not ethnocentric." She snapped at him. "But after all, _you_ already know that." She said, it had been decently well known in key circles of the JLF that Asahina was of Ainu descent rather than Yamato like most of the Japanese population outside of the Ryukyus.

"We can worry about the details _after_ we've rescued the colonel." Senba stated.

"I understand." Asahina acknowledged. "But no matter _where_ Todoh may be, it's the place I belong."

* * *

"Look! Just stuff 'em in and close the lid for crying out loud, it's almost time to move out!" Tamaki snarled at Yoshida and Minami, growing impatient with the delay on the Guren's maintenance.

"This thing's maintenance needs aren't a simple as a Burai's Tamaki, the ex-JASDF maintenance guys said it has more in common with a _fighter jet_ than a tank in that regard." Minami snapped back at him.

"He's right you know, take your time and treat him with the utmost care!" An unfamiliar female voice chided, catching them off guard. "He was far more fragile than any of you when I gave 'birth' to him."

They noticed the Indian woman staring at them like they were headless chickens, flanked by two Indian men, all three wearing lab coats.

"Huh?! Who the hell are you!?" Tamaki demanded angrily as he shot up.

"I am the Guren's _mother_." The woman stated flatly, stunning the loudmouthed man.

="You arrived on time."= Zero said as he and C2 walked over before Tamaki could gather his bearings enough to snap back at Rakshata, the clatter of the Reploid's armored metal feet drowning out the soft clap of his boots as per usual.

"Hmm? Are you Zero? It's a pleasure, I've heard a lot of things about you." She said, eyeing up C2 with more than a bit of barely restrained interest. "Alongside your associate here as well. I look forward to working with the both of you." Rakshata stated, keeping an eye on C2, whom resisted the urge to squirm due to her experience with Code R poking about in her systems.

="The pleasure is all mine, Rakshata."= Zero said as he and C2 stopped directly in front of her. ="I've been reading about you on the net for some time now."= He clarified as they shook hands.

"You have?"

="The articles relating to medical cybernetics."= Zero clarified.

Rakshata chuckled softly. "I do _hate_ talking about the past. Anyway, here." She said as she held up five identical activation keys.

="Hm?"= Zero said, cocking his head ever so slightly as one of Rakshata's aides unlocked the case next to them, revealing a number of colored pilot suits.

"A souvenir from India courtesy of Kyoto."

Kallen stepped up, having already been given her own suit by Rakshata. "Uhm, excuse me… Is this going to improve the sync rate of the interfacing system?" She asked, unused to the suit and how it clung to her.

"Of course not!" Rakshata stated. "It's going to improve your life expectancy." The Indian woman said flippantly

Kallen stood there, flabbergasted. "WHAT?!" Came the shrill response after she processed what she'd been told.

"It's a G-suit, enabling you to make much more complex maneuvers with the Guren while reducing the risk of black-out or red-out from negative or positive G-forces." C2 clarified without hesitation.

"In English?"

"It means you're _less_ likely to pass out while making a high G maneuver in the Guren, since it's more than capable of performing acrobatics in excess of 9G of force unlike the old Burais and Glasgows you used to pilot, which in turn prevents you from getting slotted by some random grunt in a Sutherland or tank while you spend precious seconds recovering." The Reploid stated bluntly.

"Oh…" Kallen whispered softly. Having not quite realized _why_ a pilot suit had been necessary beforehand. "I guess that explains why the Britannians wear them..."

"Yes, it does." Rakshata giggled.

* * *

 **Septembr 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Yokosuka Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

A human guard's boots clapped across the floor as he walked down the hallway and up to Todoh's cell.

"I just heard they changed your executioner." He said smugly as he looked down at the straitjacketed man, the restrictive garmant more a precaution to prevent him from attacking the guards than it was to keep him from committing suicide. "It's going to be Lieutenant Suzaku Kururugi now, you oughta be glad it's someone you know."

Todoh looked up, his eyes opening as he contemplated this latest irony.

* * *

Lloyd relaxed slightly as he finished signing off on the form presented to him as he, Suzaku, and Cecile sat in the warden's office.

And then another piece of paper was laid out in front of him.

"Wha… You need my signature again?" He asked, looking up at the Warden.

"Even though Princess Cornelia ordered this, there are still some formalities to be followed." The man stated.

Suzaku said nothing, continuing to stare off into space as he contemplated killing yet another person close to him. A man who'd been more of a father to him than his _actual_ father.

"A change of executioner at the eleventh hour is an _extremely_ exceptional circumstance you understand? So procedure needs to be followed." The warden continued as Cecile glanced worriedly at Suzaku.

An explosion thundered in the distance, snapping Suzaku out of his reminiscence.

"What the hell was that?!" The Warden shouted in bewilderment as they all shot to their feet.

A siren began to blare as smoke and flame billowed into the sky.

"What?! What happened, did a gas main explode or are we under attack?!"

"Good, now we're free of this hellish paperwork!" Lloyd chuckled gleefully as he figured that it was Zero again.

* * *

Sutherlands, Ride Armors and Security Glasgows scrambled out from the Prison's garrison, skating along the ground towards the smoke.

Three over-eager Sutherland pilots were gunned down by rounds punching out of the haze as they got too close while the others fell back.

["All units, keep your distance! If the enemy is bold enough to attack this prison, then it means they've got some serious firepower!"] A Reploid ride armor pilot warned as he raised his unit's heavy assault cannon and fired into he smoke.

The Sutherlands and Glasgows stopped and began to back off.

And not a moment too soon, as the four Gekkas of the Holy Swords emerged from inferno, revolving blade swords whirring away.

["That formation! It's the Holy Swords!"]

["Fall back! Fall back!"] One of the Sutherland pilots shouted as he and several others withdrew, some of the Glasgows trying to hold their ground as they were cut apart by the Gekkas.

["Don't stand still you _idiots_! An unmoving Knightmare is a _dead_ Knightmare!"] One officer screamed into his comms as they sprang into action, weaving and dodging to keep the Holy Swords on their toes.

* * *

Chiba frowned, whoever was in command of the Garrison wasn't an idiot like their pilots sadly, and rather fortunately for them, were. She shook off her consternation. "Hang on Colonel, we're coming to save you." She promised as she chased after a command Sutherland.

* * *

Asahina grimaced as he approached a pair of Glasgows and slashed through the torsos of both, one unit's cockpit ejecting as they both collapsed.

He looked back. "These Gekkas are _awesome_ , way better than any Burai, I don't even care that they're not actual Guren types!" He said, gazing back at how effortlessly the Seventh Gen unit had handled them.

["Yeah, ya got that right!"] Urabe agreed as he gunned down a ride armor.

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

"Hmm… You think that the sub-weaponry's linkage isn't tight enough?" She asked one of her staff.

"No. However I suspect it might be the control line." One of the techs stated.

"I'm reading a point zero seven variance to specs." The second reported, reading off a live readout from the Gekkas.

Rakshata sighed in mock exasperation. "Obviously those old codgers in Kyoto need to supply us with better parts."

Inoue glanced over at Rakshata as she and the other command staff directed the battle.

"Point zero seven? Hell, isn't that well within optimum military tolerance?" Yoshida asked as he reclined in his seat.

"I demand nothing less than near-perfection from my children." Rakshata hummed smarmily. "Since true perfection itself is inherently impossible of course."

* * *

 **Yokosuka Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

"My superiors have just ordered that you be unofficially executed before they bust you out of here. Any last words for the record?" The guard said as he flicked the safety off on his sidearm after returning to Todoh's cell.

"It's a life I gave up once before. It's worth nothing." Todoh replied in an even voice, accepting his fate.

="In that case I'll claim your life for _myself_!"= A muffled voice declared.

The Guard barely had any time to react before part of the the wall exploded inwards, C2 waltzing in and vaporizing his head with her buster without even looking at the man, his smoking, headless, corpse falling to the floor with a dull thud.

Todoh could only stare in shock at the Reploid for behind her, through the opening, stood the Guren Mark Two and Zero's command Burai, the masked man perched on the latter's cockpit seat as the Guren opened the gap in the wall even further with its claws.

Todoh's face hardened again. "Zero."

="Kyoshiro Todoh, the only Japanese who seven years ago, brought the mighty Britannian military, even if for but a few hours, to a screeching halt in defeat."= Zero noted.

"You mean Itsukushima?" He asked, leering at Zero. "You want me to perform a miracle for you as well?" He questioned, not trusting Zero's intentions in the slightest, particularly not since he secretly suspected the masked man had murdered Katase.

="That was _no_ miracle, it ended in victory because it was based on excellent intelligence work and skillful planning. _That's_ why I want you."=

"I pledged my loyalty to General Katase, now that he's dead, I wish to die too." Todoh replied calmly, irritating Lelouch with his adherence to Bushido.

="DON'T BE A COWARD!"= Zero snapped at him, much to Todoh's, and Kallen's, shock.

"What?" Todoh asked, confused as to why Zero was calling him a coward.

="You must take _responsibility_."= Zero informed him. ="Responsibility for the miracle that **you** _made_!"=

Todoh's eyes widened as the Masked Man continued.

="The Area 11 resistance movement is far more intense than that of any other Area conquered by Britannia because Japan surrendered _before_ exhausting her military strength."= Zero said as gunfire and explosions echoed around them. ="You failed to continue the great hope known as the Miracle of Itsukushima, where it was proven for the first time since the Australio-Britannian war that even a substantially weaker power could inflict a major defeat on Britannian forces!"=

"You're saying it's _my_ fault?"

="Yes, people grasp at illusions because they're desperate for miracles. Why else has there been such rampant use of Refrain?"= He stated to Todoh confidently.

The Colonel grimaced as he contemplated this.

="You must endeavor! To the bitter end, beyond all that's decent, and only then can you die!"= Zero said strongly, urging him to consider his words. ="Until the name of Todoh the Miracle Maker has grown ragged and tattered!"=

"You're telling me that the Japanese people can't accept their defeat until then?" Todoh asked.

"Not just the humans, but Japan's sizable _Reploid_ population as well, a mere search and rescue Reploid from your nation's _coast guard_ took much of what remained of Japan's submarine corps and turned them into the most feared and powerful pirate fleet on the _planet_." C2 stated, reminding him of Marty's pirates. "Raiding Britannian shipping at will and striking the fear of a modern Blackbeard into the heart of the Royal Navy. In a typical _month_ she does what the JLF had failed to do in _seven years_ of existence, strike at Britannia in a **meaningful** and **visible** way."

Zero nodded at her before continuing. ="And then I came along, 'till now, they had to accept it. However, now that _I'm_ here, there's hope, because I can likely turn their dreams into _reality_."= He said, putting a hand to his chest for emphasis.

Todoh smirked ever so slightly.

* * *

 **Prince Clovis Memorial Museum of Art. Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"And now for the highlight of today's events." The curator announced as Euphie stood before the press. "Princess Euphemia will select the grand prize winner." He said as he walked over to Euphie, holding an ornate flower decoration.

"The work of art upon which you place this flower will be deemed the winner, your Highness." The man stated as he handed it do her

Euphie turned and began to walk towards the painting of her father, it would certainly be the easy way out, and even Clovis would do it just to shut the nobles up if they started screaming loudly enough.

" _But would_ Euphemia _do it?"_ She thought as she stopped and stared at the paintings.

* * *

 **Britannian Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

Two Gekkas burst through the base of one of the checkpoint towers, both units engaging and slicing apart a pair of Glasgows, which collapsed in heaps as the pilots of both units slammed open the emergency hatches on the cockpit roofs and bolted for cover, being ignored by the Holy Swords as they were next to no actual threat.

In unison they pointed their arm mounted MGs into the sky and fired off a volley of tracers as a signal.

Another wall blew open and a transport truck with a Burai standing in an open hatch as a glorified turret roared into the complex whilst two more blasts ripped into one of the prison structures, shattering the central guard tower and an exterior guard post as Zero's Burai and the Guren rocketed out from it while C2 followed on a hijacked ride armor.

Additional explosions ripped into the buildings around them as two of the Gekkas passed by the three while they headed towards the transport truck, which spun 180 degrees as it stopped, nearly flipping over in the process, and dropped the rear hatch to reveal the custom Gekka produced for Todoh kneeling seiza in the back in standby position.

Zero's Burai, escorted by the three other Knightmares and C2's ride armor, spun around and backed up to the Gekka Custom, the hatch unlocking as it did so.

In perfect unison the four Gekkas of the Holy Swords reversed into back to back positions on either side of the truck and Burai and opened their own cockpits.

"Colonel!" Chiba said with a smile on her face.

"Welcome back, Colonel Todoh!" Asahina added with a grin of his own.

"Thank you." Todoh said as he turned his head to look at Senba and Urabe. "You've all worked so hard for this."

"No effort at all, sir. Their forces are just rear echelon troops, mostly using Glasgows. It was even easier than we'd anticipated." Senba joked warmly.

Todoh smiled and nodded at him before hopping onto the Gekka Custom as its cockpit opened. "Cooperate with Zero! Eliminate all remaining combat effective enemy forces here!" He ordered as he sat down in the Gekka's cockpit and began to power it on.

"Roger!" The Holy Swords shouted in unison.

* * *

Once Todoh had left Lelouch sealed up his cockpit and removed the oppressive mask to breathe more easily. _"Now, all the tasks at hand have been cleared, and Nunnally's Knight has already been chosen… That leaves only…"_ His threat sensors blared and Lelouch gasped as a _very_ familiar slash harken barreled directly towards his Burai before Kallen intercepted it in mid-air and deflected the anchor into the side of a prison block.

The harken then withdrew back to the Lancelot's arm as the White and Gold Knightmare advanced at a steady clip.

" _My white whale…"_ Lelouch thought with a sneer on his face.

["Damn… What's he doing here…"] Kallen fumed, irritated that the Lancelot was present yet again.

"Well, how _convenient_." Lelouch chuckled. "The one problem left to contend with come here on his own!" He stated, having planned ahead for such a scenario so that now the Lancelot couldn't possibly win or even escape.

* * *

 **Prince Clovis Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Please your Highness, it's time for you to decide. We can't wait any longer." The curator urged her.

"I know but I…" Euphie whispered indecisively. " _But I…"_

A phone rang discreetly behind them.

"Hello?" One of the reporters whispered after picking up.

Multiple phones began ringing suddenly as the reporters each began answering their cells.

A guardsman rushed over to Darlton and whispered into his ear.

"Escaped?!" He whispered. "And it took them _this_ long to inform us that a breakout was underway?!" He asked, incredulous at the level of incompetence on the part of the Detention Center's staff.

"Yes sir… The Glaston Knights are en-route as we speak."

Darlton smiled softly. "I hope my boys leave some of them for us." He chuckled.

* * *

 **Britannian Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

Suzaku fired the VARIS in sphere mode, one of the Gekkas easily dodging the shot as he'd fired it at low velocity setting and with no real intent to kill.

The unit tore past him as a distraction, a second machine nearly taking the Lancelot's arm off were it not for the split-second activation of the Blaze Luminous.

* * *

From afar C2 yawned as she reclined in her ride armor and rested her head against one of her knuckles, bored now given her lack of further involvement in the battle, since her smaller size would mean that in a Knightmare brawl like this she'd just be in the way.

And there was nothing else for her to shoot at either after the Swords had swept through.

"Jeez… You think he'd be smart enough to open with a kill shot from that rifle while we're all lined up like bowling pins rather than announcing his presence like that." She noted dryly.

["He's not trying to kill us."] Lelouch replied over the radio, sure of that after the past few encounters with the Lancelot.

"Well he's an idiot then." She responded with a huff. "Because we're _not_ returning the courtesy."

She could just about feel the smugness oozing from Lelouch's next words. ["On that, we agree."]

* * *

Suzaku tried to shoot one of the Gekkas, which simply leapt away from his shot with ease.

"More Seventh Gens?" He whispered to himself as he tracked its path. "Either way, they're skilled fighters…"

* * *

From the window of the Warden's office, Lloyd watched the battle as if it was a sporting event.

"Oh my, aren't those new enemy models quite something…" He said as Cecile watched nervously, knowing that Suzaku was in way over his head. "You know, Ms Cecile."

"Yes?" She asked, looking at Lloyd as he placed his opera glasses behind his head

"In hindsight, it's certainly quite fortunate that the Lancelot's trailer is our primary method of transportation." He mused aloud.

"No, it's because you blew just about our _entire_ budget on the Lancelot itself, _that's_ hindsight." She quipped dryly a she glanced at a medical chart, noting that Suzaku's athletic abilities had increased _exponentially_ since taking to the Lancelot's controls.

* * *

 **Black Knights Mobile Command Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

"That's it? The White Knightmare that's been giving so much trouble to Zero? Lancelot was it?" Rakshata inquired as she watched the battle on the Command Center's TV.

"Uh, yeah…" Ohgi acknowledged, unsure as to why she was so interested.

Rakshata bit on her pipe. _"I should've known… Asplund… This is_ your _work isn't it?"_

* * *

 **Prince Clovis Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"No way! Seven against one!?" One of the reporters gasped as live footage of the battle was broadcast via news VTOL, much to Darlton's chagrin.

" _Even the news is moving faster then our air support units…"_ He thought, snarling under his breath as he brought his phone up to his ear.

"But that Lancelot Knightmare is holding its own!" Another noted.

"Go get 'em White Knight!" One of the reporters cheered, pumping their fist into the air.

"Listen, send _everything_ you can to support Kururgi and the Glaston Knights once they arrive, then make them report that we're wiping out the terrorists once and for all." Darlton instructed over the phone to someone in a command center on the other end of the line.

* * *

 **Britannian Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

["Zero, do you have any available data on this unit?"] Todoh asked.

"Possibly, however, I want you to do _exactly_ as I say." Lelouch told him, noting that the Lancelot's basic attack pattern was just the same as Narita.

["Ah. Very well. I'll defer to you in this."] The colonel acknowledged.

"All units, give him distance!" Lelouch ordered.

The Holy Swords did as instructed, keeping out of the range of the MVS blades.

" _Its speed and maneuverability are truly astonishing. nevertheless…"_ Lelouch thought as he observed the battle, noting that the past three engagements against the Lancelot had yielded much data to work with. "Its movements follow a predictable pattern, the initial attack is always straight on!" He warned. "It _never_ feints that first move!"

The Lancelot did as he predicted, swiping at Kallen with the MVS, the Guren simply jumping over the Lancelot.

"Once you dodge that attack, he'll immediately move to avoid your offensive! Check the data I'm sending you!"

"Coordinates S-6-7!" Lelouch shouted as the Lancelot leapt into the air.

* * *

Suzaku gasped as one of the Gekkas rushed out of cover as he arced downwards.

" _They knew what I was going to… This is_ exactly _what Liath was warning me about in our first duel!"_ He realized, knowing that Zero was using his previously predictable behavior against him.

 _"I guess I'll have to switch it up from now on then..."_ Suzaku thought with a grimace on his face.

* * *

["Hey, he's really doing it."] Asahina chuckled as the Lancelot landed.

Instead of trying to shoot at him, Suzaku instead _charged_ head at high speed before Asahina could react.

["Wait what!? This isn't in the data!"] A stunned Asahina realized as The Lancelot smashed his Gekka aside with the Blaze Luminous and then used its slash harkens to scale the prison structure.

["Zero! He's realized we're onto him!"] Asahina reported as he trailed gunfire after Lancelot.

* * *

"Damnit…" Lelouch hissed as the Lancelot plinked shots down at the Holy Swords from its perch, even managing to keep Kallen at a distance with the VARIS.

Scanning about the structure, he saw no easy way to flank the Lancelot, nor could they idly waste time playing around with the White Knightmare when every passing minute meant Britannian reinforcements were closing in.

Then he saw his opening.

"Q2, bring the side of that prison wing down." He instructed, seeing no other option open to him with the tools at hand.

["… You sure? Some of the people in these buildings are still waiting for trials and court martials. They could be innocent whatever crimes they're locked up for."] She asked, wanting clarification as to why.

"Tactical necessity unfortunately overcomes morality in this case." he replied, knowing they could always blame the Lancelot for their deaths later, and growing admittedly a bit irritated with her hesitation.

There was a short pause before she reluctantly acknowledged him. ["Roger."]

* * *

C2 sighed and activated the Blast Man data set before lobbing a number of bombs onto the side of the building.

"Boom goes the Dynamite." She whispered as she triggered the detonators, the Lancelot barely leaping away from the explosion after Suzaku noticed the explosives.

["Coordinates X-2-3!"] Lelouch shouted after predicting its landing point as the Lancelot descended back down to earth.

* * *

Lelouch grinned as Todoh's Gekka Custom screeched out from behind cover, Revolving Blade Sword already swinging upwards.

"And with that… Check." He said smugly.

* * *

Suzaku noticed the Gekka at the last second and moved the Lancelot quickly to evade the attack, succeeding in evading the first strike.

A followup stab intended for the center of the White Knightmare's cockpit caught the Lancelot in the cockpit roof as it ducked in an attempt to avoid being hit, Suzaku wincing as sparks flung throughout the cockpit.

"This technique… I know this…" He murmured, a feeling of Deja Vu setting in.

* * *

Todoh frowned as he realized the Lancelot had actually _anticipated_ the fatal strike and successfully avoided it. "What fool dares anticipate my moves?!" He grumbled. "No matter!"

With that he cleaved the Lancelot's cockpit roof clean off.

And nearly had a heart attack when he saw Suzaku sitting behind the controls.

* * *

"Damnit! He doesn't have an ejection block on it!" Lloyd gasped in realization that because of him, his prized Devicer might actually _die_.

And lord knew how long it'd take to find someone even _close_ to being capable of replacing Suzaku.

"What! You mean we never installed one once the initial testing phase was over?!" Cecile asked him in horror.

* * *

["Well... Fuck... What do we do now!?"] C2 stated over her private comm channel with Lelouch as the latter's eyes widened to the size of saucers. ["Damnit! What do we do!?"] She demanded nervously. ["Lelouch!"] The Reploid hissed under her breath so that nobody else could hear.

"No way…" He gasped, too stunned to reply to C2.

* * *

"Is that really you, Suzaku!?" Todoh gasped, shocked by this turn of events.

* * *

The Guren came to a halt as Kallen too processed this. "What?! Huh!?" She gasped, trying to comprehend that she'd been fighting Suzaku all this time. "Zero! What now?!" Kallen pleaded in a panic. "Give us our next instructions! Zero!"

* * *

Lelouch, still too insensate to respond, simply sat there in a near catatonic shock.

" _All this time… It was him…?"_ He thought as he realized that was indeed Suzaku he'd seen in the mental circuit at Narita. "Suzaku!" He whispered.

* * *

 **Prince Clovis Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Hey isn't that a…"

"Yeah, an Eleven."

"Wait! That's Suzaku Kururgi!"

"The guy they accused of murdering Prince Clovis?"

"No way, how'd he get to pilot it?!"

"He's been the pilot the entire time!?"

The chatter continued as Darlton walked over. "That's enough! Turn off the monitor, now!" He ordered with a wave of his hand.

"Wait, please!" Euphie countermanded, catching him by surprise.

"What…?"

"I'd like to watch it to the end." She stated as a number of Maverick Hunters who'd been standing guard joined the crowd of onlookers.

* * *

 **Britannian Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

Suzaku checked the controls of the Lancelot, noting he still had all inputs at full functionality.

"Good, I can still pilot."

He also noted he had few options beyond directly engaging the Gekka at this point and charged it down, the Gekka Custom catching the Lancelot's sword arm with its free arm, both units spinning in place as Suzaku mirrored the grapple.

Then Todoh popped his hatch.

"Don't do this Suzaku!" He pleaded desperately, hoping to convince his former student to at the very least to not fight for Britannia anymore.

Suzaku gasped in shock, having realized instinctively that it was his mentor given the fighting style, but was still surprised regardless.

"Todoh-sensei!" He said almost reflexively, using the honorific without thinking, before snarling at him. "So then Colonel, you want to _live_ more than you want to follow your own _principles_?!"

"Do I disappoint you?" He asked, before smirking slightly. "If so, then keep to your schedule and _execute_ me."

Suzaku's eyes widened, after all, he'd only been putting up a front to avoid dwelling on the subject.

* * *

"But why… Why?" Lelouch whispered softly as he stared at the Lancelot. "Why are you there? You can't be because you… You have to be by Nunnally's side…" He mumbled incoherently, trapped in the web of his own crumbling plans.

* * *

C2 sighed and closed the emergency hatch on top of his Burai after having leapt onto the machine to check on Lelouch after getting no reply from him over the comms. "God, fucking, damnit…" She hissed under her breath as she turned back to the duel, watching Kallen mill about indecisively as the Holy Swords formed a perimeter around Suzaku and Todoh.

* * *

The Lancelot struggled against Todoh's Gekka custom. "What's wrong? That's the whole reason you're here isn't it?!" He asked, before growing irritated with Suzaku's lack of an answer. "You've become a cowardly boy who's afraid of altering the status quo! Serving Britannia while your fellow Japanese are trampled underfoot and doing nothing to help them!" Todoh snapped at him.

Suzaku grimaced, unable to fully put Liath's training into practice against his former mentor at this point due to their close proximity.

And also not entirely trusting the durability of his cockpit restraints.

"Denying everything in our society is _pointless_! Nobody's ever solved anything by just throwing everything away!" Suzaku shot back. "Once I _make_ them trust me, I'll have the power to change it for the better!"

"You're serious!?" An incredulous Todoh asked.

" _Dead_ serious." Suzaku replied.

Todoh exhaled softly as their Knightmares remained swordlocked. "Then you _must_ continue down that path." He acknowledged.

"Huh…?" Suzaku murmured in confusion, unsure as to why Todoh was telling him this.

The Gekka Custom shoved the Lancelot back. "Regardless of whether you win or lose, you'll achieve _nothing_ unless you're prepared to sacrifice _everything_! And that goes for countries as _well_ as individuals!" Todoh told him as he closed the Gekka Custom's cockpit back up, leaving a shocked Suzaku to watch as one of the last vestiges of his old life was forever closed off from him.

"Right!" He acknowledged as the Lancelot and Gekka Custom began to circle eachother, blades clashing as Master and Student fought again, this time in a true life or death struggle.

The Four Holy Swords sat on the sidelines, having been both waiting for orders, and respecting Todoh's personal talk with his former student.

* * *

[Zero, what do we do, capture him or… Zero!"] Kallen pleaded as Lelouch sat there, still in a state of shock.

["We're destroying the White Knightmare, got that!"] Senba stated, knowing that something was up with Zero and they couldn't sit around and wait for orders.

["Wait for Zero's orders!"] Kallen pleaded of them.

["We're _not_ waiting!"] Chiba replied harshly. ["Captain Senba, enter Spinning Life or Death For-"] She began as a salvo of energy shots sent her and the other Holy Swords Scrambling.

["What in the hell!?"] Urabe gasped.

* * *

This immediately turned Lloyd's attitude to something more upbeat as five violet and blue Lionel units burst into the prison yard.

"Oh yes! The cavalry has arrived!" He said with ecstatic glee.

"Thank heavens for the Glaston Knights." Cecile said, letting out a sigh of relief.

* * *

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

Rakshata let her pipe drop from her mouth in shock.

"They actually _beat_ us to a proper production ace-spec type?" She gasped as the other Black Knights shot to their feet. "Well, consider me beaten, even the Guren Mark Ones and Gekkas are merely stopgap measures until we retune the OS for normal pilots."

* * *

["Count, five, repeat five Lancelot units!"] Asahina reported after scanning the Lionels.

["Five?! You mean…"] Kallen gasped in horror.

["They actually produced a limited run of the damn thing…"] C2 grumbled. ["Just our shitty luck. Zero! What the hell are our orders!? How do we deal with this!?"] She yelled, hoping to jolt Lelouch out of his funk.

Lelouch, still too busy processing the fact that Suzaku was piloting the Lancelot, said nothing.

* * *

["Lieutenant Kururugi. This is Captain Claudio S. Darlton of the Glaston Knights. We'll handle the Holy Swords, you take Todoh."] One of the Lionels informed Suzaku as the other four machines drew their MVS Blades and rushed at the Holy swords, forcing them away from the fight between Todoh and Suzaku while Alfred stared down Kallen, his VARIS aimed at the Guren's torso.

"Roger, thanks for the help." Suzaku acknowledged. "But I have this under control now."

And with that he fired off the enhanced Harken boosters, which had been improved by Lloyd from the previous version to increase speed and control and smashed off one weapon from each of the Four Holy Swords, causing them to back off from the battle.

As a parting shot, Suzaku threw the MVS in the Lancelot's hand into Senba's Gekka, destroying its slash Harken.

* * *

["Senba! Are you okay!?"] Asahina questioned as he moved next to Senba's Knightmare.

["I'm fine. Interesting fighting style he uses… Wonder who taught it to him."] Senba joked in an attempt to relieve the tension.

["Stop it!"] Zero finally shouted as the Lancelot joined formation with the Lionel units of the Glaston Knights, each Britannian seventh gen staring down its opposite number in the Black Knights.

["Zero…"] Kallen gasped as she clenched her control sticks.

* * *

Trembling inside his cockpit in a mix of rage and despair, Lelouch finally spoke up again. "We've done enough fighting for now! And we've achieved our objective here! There's no reason to continue engaging the enemy..." He stated, voice cracking. "Use escape route three… WITHDRAW _IMMEDIATELY_!" He yelled.

* * *

Todoh glanced to his right, seeing a massive swarm of VTOLs, mostly T-4 series Knightmare transports and T-3 series Ride Armor carriers backed by Mechaniloids and AV-1 Cobra and UV-1 Iroquois gunships, with several CV-46s, several of the new CV-53s that were just entering service, CV-47s and ACV-47s mixed in, plus several units of what appeared to be transformable _flying_ Knightmares he didn't recognize, possibly those Somersets that Kyoto had mentioned in an intel report.

Then of course there were the A-4 Barracuda IIs, A-9 Tempest IIs, F-11 Sea Vixens, F-14 Skyfangs and F-15 Spitefuls approaching from above and behind them.

He smirked, thinking he understood why Zero was ordering a retreat. "An unwinnable battle's not the same as a lost battle." Todoh observed. "You seem to be very well aware of that Zero." He stated as the Gekka Custom turned to withdraw, deploying chaffsmoke from it's rear as the other Gekkas and the Guren did the same.

* * *

"Wait!" Suzaku shouted as he tried to chase Todoh down, only for his former mentor to blow off the Lancelot's left landspinner pod with a salvo of 25mm machine gun fire, sending him skidding off.

"Chaffsmoke deployed! Beginning withdrawal!" Todoh stated as the retreat began in earnest

* * *

"Chaffsmoke, why did it have to be chaffsmoke." C2 grumbled as she felt it mess with her sensors already, using the Turbo Man dataset to increase her speed via the landspinner like wheels that her VAWS had materialized on her legs in order to keep up with the fleeing KMF units.

* * *

 **Prince Clovis Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Look, they're running!" One of the reporters shouted.

"He actually fought them off!? The Black Knights?!" Another man gasped in shock.

"Those other Lancelots seem to be superfluous now…"

" _Suzaku… Well done…"_ Euphie thought proudly.

Then several reporters began questioning why he didn't pursue, one calling him a traitor outright.

Euphie's hands clenched on the flower.

"Princess Euphemia?" Darlton asked, looking at her worriedly.

Then the crowd suddenly shut up and a deathly silence fell over the room.

And Euphie's eyes widened as the reporters scrambled out of the way to reveal Executrix Liath holding the man who'd called Suzaku a traitor at swordpoint.

 **="I find it laughable that you _vultures_ of all people claim to present facts and then spew nonsense. He did attempt to pursue, but cannot now due to battle damage inflicted by Todoh. See for yourself if you wish to object."= **She stated as the chaffsmoke cleared to reveal the Lancelot, minus one of it's landspinner pods.

 **="A Knightmare with only one landspinner can do little more than walk, they could be halfway across the** _ **district**_ **by the time he reached the main gate of the prison."=** The masked woman sighed in exasperation as she stowed her blade, leaving the reporters looking like idiots. = **"Moreover, Kururugi is an excellent Knightmare pilot, but if he were to follow Zero, an ambush by additional forces may likely ensue, the Glaston Knights didn't pursue either, are they traitors as well then? And chose your response carefully mind, hell hath no fury like an enraged parent… Isn't that right General Darlton?"=**

"Adoptive parent, your Eminence." He corrected gently.

Several men and women who'd prepared to say something blanched.

Liath shrugged as she looked over the reporters, ensuring there would be no further objection. **="You were about to say something Princess Euphemia?"=** The executrix questioned, her silver mask glinting in the light.

"Yes… I will now answer the question you of the press have asked me earlier, you had inquired as to whom I would select to be my Knight of Honor, correct?" She asked, much to the shock of the crowd. "The Knight I have chosen will be the young man you see before you." She announced. "Lieutenant Suzaku Kururugi!"

The crowd fell silent, initially expecting a punchline, before everyone quickly realized that the princess was deadly serious. Yet nobody dared speak their mind as a dozen white and blue armored soldiers, all of the 501st, stood on either side of the hall, their rifles at the ready.

Nor would they had they not been there, as speaking out against a Royal was punishable by death if they saw fit.

And nobody dared to test whether or not Cornelia would override any lenience Euphemia gave them for doing so.

Behind her mask, Liath's lips pursed into a grin. _"Let's see if my preparations will be of any aid in ensuring your survival this time around dear Euphemia… Heavens knows it'll go a long way to making sure Kururugi has some semblance of sanity when all is said and done..."_

A soldier with unique armor markings and a waist cape walked over to her, his helmet under his arm.

"Ma'am, your transport is ready to go whenever you wish." The Maori man stated.

 **="Thank you Captain."=** She acknowledged as the man saluted and put his helmet on and walked out alongside her, the crowd of reporters shivering as they realized that a _number_ held more respect from the most powerful woman in the Empire than any of them did.

* * *

 **Britannian Naval Detention Center, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

Suzaku frowned as the chaff fell like glittering snow. "Todoh…" He whispered. "I… I'm your… I am your foe." He stated as the Glaston Knights watched from afar.

* * *

"So… He's the one huh…" Edgar questioned as Alfred hummed softly.

"I don't particularly like the fact he's an Eleven… But… Hell, anyone Liath is willing to train has to be as loyal as they come." Alfred conceded.

"He's a skilled pilot too." Claudio added, remembering how Suzaku had gone toe to toe with the Swords by _himself_ and held his own, albeit only for a short time, even Cornelia's guard and Sir Guilford had struggled to defend themselves when faced with mere upgraded Burais piloted by the JLF's ace unit, only being saved by the arrival of Liath and her troops. "I can see why Fa... General Darlton views him so highly."

His adoptive brothers all nodded in agreement.

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Yokosuka Port Area Streets, Yokosuka Port Concession, Area 11.**

Ohgi walked over to a worried Kallen. "Hey, isn't Zero coming out?" He asked somewhat nervously, as everyone had been expecting some speech from him for some time.

"No, I've tried calling him but he won't answer, and Q2 isn't saying anything either, she's just keeping people away from the hatches on his Knightmare." Kallen informed him.

There was a bit of feedback as her comms picked up a transmission from Zero's Burai, the redhead tapping on her headset to clear the channel.

Kallen's mouth opened as she heard _laughter_ , or at least something that could be charitably described as verging on the line between laughter and crying.

"What's wrong…?" Ohgi asked, noting her confusion and concern.

* * *

Inside his Burai, Lelouch had finally snapped as the stupidity and irony of the entire thing caught up to him.

That his own best friend was now his greatest hindrance, that even as he tried to get Suzaku to be Nunnally's knight, he was in turn already a knight in the service of Britannia.

Lelouch's psyche broke down and he just kept laughing, his cackling growing ever more deranged as he continued.

* * *

Outside, C2 shivered as his chilling laughter echoed into her ear via her comms. _"Is this what… It was like for him when I nearly snapped…?"_ She thought, the entire situation making her increasingly uncomfortable as the Zero virus whispered from the back her mind, warning her that Lelouch was descending into madness and he could no longer be trusted.

And to be honest… She was starting to believe that was indeed the case, any further setbacks would be excessively detrimental to Lelouch's already declining mental health, she'd normally thought him to be like a rock of pure logic, yet… She was a fool for not remembering Saitama or how he reacted to Nunnally's kidnapping…

"Damnit Lelouch…" She whispered under her breath. "What do I do now...?"

* * *

On the bridge support above, Nemo, dressed in a Black Knights BDU and combat gear, watched impassively as Lelouch continued with his mad laughter.

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Unknown Location, Area 11.**

Alice, Dalaque, Sancia, and Lucretia waited impatiently for Madd to reveal the latest addition to their team being told that they weren't deploying to stop the prison break due to the media presence.

"How long is this gonna take…?" The dark hued brawling Reploid sighed as she leaned back.

Alice shrugged and continued typing away on a laptop while Lucretia did her latest systems check.

"As long as it needs to." Sancia informed her as two pairs of metal footfalls echoed from the darkened hallway.

The four snapped to attention, Alice hastily putting her laptop somewhere safe.

"Sir!" Sancia acknowledged as she saluted.

"At ease. Meet your newest member… Say hello _Mao_." Madd said with his usual manic grin on his face, gesturing for the smaller Reploid to introduce herself.

The shorter white haired Reploid cocked her head boredly at the others, red eyes scanning the room.

"So… You're my new team…" She noted, as if exhausted. "Well, I guess you dumbasses could use someone skilled in Electronic Warfare after all."

There was a pause before Dalaque spoke up. "Well, she seems… Interesting…"

* * *

 **September 26, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Shirley walked down the hall to visit Lelouch and inquire as to the results of the day's operation.

"Ugh, I swear that power outage in the Akibahara shopping district had to have come at the worst possible time…" The girl grumbled before stopping as she saw C2 standing outside the door, a disturbed look on her face.

"C2? What's wrong?" Shirley asked, frowning as she walked up to the Reploid.

Golden eyes locked onto Shirley before C2 sighed in exasperation. "I take it you didn't see or hear about the news…" She paused before dragging the ginger into the unoccupied study and locking the door, closing the curtains as well in the event there was anyone spying on them using visual ques or special equipment that could decipher what they were saying based on the minute vibrations of the windows.

Lelouch hadn't opened his curtains in _weeks_ after she told him such equipment not only was possible, but was likely being used actively by various intelligence agencies.

"This is about the operation isn't it…" Shirley whispered softly.

"Yeah, it is… Turns out the White Knightmare, Lancelot, is being piloted by Suzaku." She said grimly, Shirley's eyes bulging out in horror.

"So when he said he was in the engineering corps…"

"He meant Prince Schneizel's ASEEC…" The Reploid finished for her. "Lelouch has taken this revelation _exceedingly_ poorly…"

"How bad was it for Lulu… He and Suzaku are close friends right…?"

C2 shrugged, running a hand through her hair as she paced around. "The worst issue is that he was trying to get Suzaku to be Nunnally's guardian for when the revolution went into full gear, now that it's out there that Suzaku's his greatest recurring annoyance that plan went down in flames faster than the _Hindenburg_ … Not to mention that apparently Britannia has beat us to the punch and is producing a presumably slightly lower spec version of the Lancelot in limited numbers."

Shirley groaned as she slumped down in her chair. "That didn't answer my question C2…"

The Reploid blushed. "Sorry, I got ahead of myself…" She paused before speaking up again. "Lelouch froze up for a couple critical minutes, he couldn't even bring himself to move, just sat there trying to comprehend what was going on while me and Kallen were begging for orders. He only barely snapped out of it a minute or so before a swarm of Britannian reinforcements would've totally obliterated us…"

The look on Shirley's face was one of horrified understanding. "And then what...?"

"When we got to safety he spent the rest of the trip back in his Burai, mostly because he was laughing like a deranged madman…"

That had Shirley increasingly worried. "And now…?"

"He's… Calmed down now… For the lack of a better phrase. While losing Suzaku was a blow to his plans, it wasn't as crippling as he initially thought, so he's planning on having Sayoko take the intended role if he can't convince Suzaku further down the line. Strategically we scored a major victory today, we rescued Todoh and got him and the Four Holy Swords onboard… We'll need them since those Britannian ace pilots who showed up to aid Suzaku had them dead to rights in an even matchup from what little we can tell." The Reploid stated before remembering something else. "Hey Shirley…"

"Hmm?" the ginger cocked her head in confusion.

"Ever been on a Submarine?"

The girl's eyes widened in awe as she realized what that meant.

C2 for her part had an immense smirk on her face.

* * *

 **AN: Regarding the statement that Nunnally made about skating, it would be near impossible for her to ice-skate following her being crippled and Geassed into blindness so the story about the pond she's talking about likely refers to one at the Aries Villa.**

 **As for C2 during the battle, as strong and fast as she is, she can't just dart through a battle while Knightmares, especially Seventh Gen or later ones, are dueling, one wrong move and she'd be _seriously_ damaged by stray weapons fire, being caught in the path of a melee strike or a high-speed collision. I've been trying to balance out the power of High End Reploids and more conventional military equipment to prevent either from just being totally unable to counter the other. C2's data from the old Robot Masters makes her an outlier in the same way X would be if he also had it due to both of them having copy chips, but the energy requirements and system stress prevents frequent use of her more insane abilities from certain Robot Masters. (I'm looking at you Galaxy Man, Time Man, Flash Man and Gravity Man.)**

 **That and C2 is more of a brute force weapon than a finesse fighter like Zero or X due to a lack of training and experience, in an arena and at a range of his choosing, Zero would undoubtedly defeat her, her only recourse being if she pulls out all the stops just to try and flee from the S-Rank Maverick Hunter or an external force aids her. Many other higher ranking Hunters would also defeat her, notably Vile, who very nearly did that in Shinjuku, and Sigma himself.**


	20. Stage 20: Live

**AN: Having completed the R1 arc, I'm attempting to write the interlude. It's going _much_ slower as I'm not adapting material from the anime or any of the Mangas and am still fleshing out the interlude's overall arc. Which'll be broken up into three parts, an initial buildup, the first Maverick war, and one featuring some of the tail-end of Akito the exiled.**

 **Ace Combat 7 has not helped in the slightest. Good game, but it could've stood to bake a little longer so that the story was better fleshed out at the end and they had a few more planes and multiplayer gamemodes, maybe having some of the missions be less annoying too.**

 **But I suspect the switch to the Unreal Engine took up the very limited time of the admittedly small dev team, and they likely had far fewer writers and storyboard staff than previous titles, hopefully Bandai Namco increases the size of the Project Aces team given the amount of sales overall, AC7 having hit top sales on Steam literally upon release and all, and is actually on the first two pages alongside giants such as GTA V, Skyrim, Monster Hunter World, Rocket League, Far Cry 5, XCOM 2, RB6S and the such.**

 **Not bad for a 'niche' arcade air combat game right?**

 **Between AC7, Super Robot Wars T, and the new SD Gundam, this is setting to be a good year for them profit wise, especially overseas. So we might see a new CG game at some point given the renewed visible interest in that series. (Hopefully it's an Armored Core style game where we play as either Suzaku or Kallen, or some newface.)**

 **Especially since Bandai owns CG via Sunrise.**

 **But anyways, on to the story.**

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Submarine** _ **Isaribi**_ **, Pacific Ocean near Area 11.**

"To think we used to have trouble acquiring even a single motorcycle… And now we have a fully operational _carrier submarine_ built specifically for _us_ by a joint Indo-Soviet development team…" Inoue mused as she stood at lookout on the _Isaribi's_ sail, scanning her surroundings with a pair of binoculars while the immense craft cut through the waves at around twenty knots. "If Britannia finds out about this the Military district of India will be in some _serious_ trouble… How'd they even get it from paper to sea so quickly?" She wondered aloud not quite aware that the Black Knights were basically pioneering concepts for the Soviet Navy in proxy.

* * *

Belowdecks, Zero addressed the combined command staff of the Black Knights, which consisted of Kusukabe and his staff, the former Yamato Alliance, the former Kozuki group minus Inoue, Diethard, Shirley, Rakshata's team, the recently joined Holy Swords, and a handful of other Black Knights who'd impressed him enough. C2 stood at his side per usual while Nemo was off in the corner of the room. Behind him Kirihara's face was visible on screen over a video-call, the entire reason they were on the surface to begin with rather than submerged.

="Now then, due to our recent re-organization, a few changes have been made."= Zero informed them.

="Our new Chief of Military Affairs will be Kyoshiro Todoh, allowing Kusukabe to fully devote his responsibilities to training command."=

There was a clamor of agreement as Todoh and Kusukabe shook hands.

"Good to see you back in action Kyoshiro." Kusukabe stated with a smirk on his face.

"It's good to be back Josui, glad to see you put a good head back on your shoulders." He joked, both men chuckling.

="Taking charge of all Intelligence, Espionage, and Public relations matters will be Diethard Reid."= Zero continued.

There was some groaning as everyone outside Zero's inner circle questioned why.

"This Britannian Pretty Boy?" Tamaki questioned aloud.

"Not to mention his media ties." Urabe grumbled, personally viewing the media as vultures who swooped on the latest big story in the name of ratings and pushing studio ideology.

"Zero, I'm not a racist." Chiba stated. "But what's your reasoning for putting one of 'them' in such a sensitive position?"

" _Oh boy."_ C2 thought as Ohgi, Kallen, and Tamaki flinched, knowing that Zero was a Britannian unlike the rest.

Shirley just plain looked uncomfortable.

="Reasoning? And what of _me_ I ask you?"= He asked as he put a hand out to the side in a dramatic flourish. ="I'm not Japanese either, you all know this."=

="What matters is the ability to produce _results_. Who you are and where you are from are of little consequence to me otherwise."= The masked man stated flatly, putting an end to the debate.

"All right, all right already…" Tamaki grumbled as he settled down.

="In charge of centralized logistics will be Shirley Fenette as Chief Quartermaster, a position which she already held and despite her short time in the role has already streamlined supply and equipment distribution across the board."= Zero stated.

Kallen smiled and clapped Shirley on the back, the ginger blushing in embarrassment. "It was nothing really…" She replied humbly.

Doing logistics for the various school events Milly kept throwing helped a _lot_.

="Next up is my Deputy Commander, that role goes to Kaname Ohgi, an individual who has held the position in practice if not name since the foundation of the Black Knights."= Zero said as he turned to Ohgi, placing a hand on his hip.

"Who… Me?" Ohgi asked, somewhat confused.

="Do you object?"= Zero inquired, cocking his head slightly.

"No..."

"Well, you were our leader to start with when Zero saved us in Shinjuku. Weren't you?" Sugiyama said in support of Ohgi.

"A newbie can't take that job right?" Minami added with a grin on his face.

="And for research and development, Rakshata."=

"Who else?" The woman said smugly as she held her pipe with her mouth.

="Captain of the Zero squad and its force of Guren series units will be Kallen Kozuki."=

"The Zero squad?" She asked, confused.

="An elite guard under my direct command, consisting of your Guren Mark Two and a half dozen upgraded Guren Mark One Kais. Think of yourselves as my personal force."= Zero explained, causing Kallen to smile softly.

"An elite guard… For Zero…" She whispered in awe.

"Oh! So that's what those were for!" Tamaki said, finally realizing why they'd received the Guren Mark Ones.

A chart detailing the layout of the new centralized command appeared on the screen behind Zero.

="In charge of the Reploids of Squad Seven will be Q2, whom will alternate with her duties as my personal bodyguard when needed."= Zero continued as he continued to illustrate the new central command structure. ="Captain of the first Knightmare squad will be Shogo Asahina. Second Squad, Ryouga Senba. Third Squad, Kizuna Kagesaki."= Zero said as he rattled off names and positions down the line before finally reaching the end.

="And Tamaki will lead the second special forces platoon. That is all."=

Tamaki, predictably, couldn't resist the urge to try and further his own ego. "I'm the _man_!" He said as he flexed his muscles in what was basically the second most obnoxious manner possible.

Kallen realized someone was missing and turned to look at Nemo. "There's no position for Nemo…?" She whispered, noting that even Q2 had a position.

"Zero. May I add something?" Diethard requested after a moment.

="Hm?"=

"There's one issue that still needs to be dealt with." The former newsman pointed out.

C2 resisted the urge to sigh, knowing this was undoubtedly about Suzaku.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Ballroom, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Who cares if he's an Honorary Britannian." One of the nobles stated. "Knighting an _Eleven_ is just…"

"And broadcasting it live…" A noblewoman agreed snootily.

From his position near the aisle, Earl Andrew Stadtfeld frowned as he watched Suzaku walk up the aisle, while it tickled him pink to see a Japanese person being treated equally to a Britannian by royalty, he knew that not only was Euphemia playing with fire in an arena she had little experience with. But his daughter had to _fight_ this young man whom she was also somewhat friendly with.

"How'd he ever win her favor I wonder…?" A second nobleman questioned.

"Well, even a Princess has _needs_ , right?" The first man sneered.

There was a faint click from nearby from one of the soldiers of the 501st standing on guard, having just flicked the safety of their rifle off.

The sneering fools shut up promptly, knowing that Liath didn't care much for them or their opinions in the first place meant that few outside their family lines and business partners would care if she or her troops opened up a few slots in the peerage for more ambitious individuals at this point.

The fact that she only nominally represented the Emperor in theory meant that he could simply scold her a bit in front of the realm and then return to business as usual without any real political repercussions so long as the bloodshed was kept to a minimum.

A truly disturbing state of affairs to be entirely honest.

Andrew turned to face the throne, where Euphie sat as Suzaku knelt before her.

"Suzaku Kururgi, wilt thou, upon this day, pledge thy fealty to Britannia and stand as a Knight of the Crown?" She asked as was ceremony.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Dost thou wish to abandon thyself and be sword and shield for the sake of the greater good of Britannia?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

He drew his sword and presented it to Euphemia, whom accepted the blade as Suzaku bowed his head to her.

Euphie gently tapped each of his shoulders with the tip of the blade. "I, Euphemia li Britannia, do hereby dub thee Sir Suzaku Kururugi. Knight of the Realm."

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

There was mixed reactions from the students and faculty, Nina somewhat jealous and nervous, the two milnerds Suzaku had saved from a beating in Shinjuku being upset that he'd been promoted to Major.

And above all was Nunnally, whom was simply happy that Suzaku had achieved something great.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **ASEEC Office, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"So… Whose payroll is he on now?" One of the human techs asked Cecile, noting that Suzaku was technically in the direct employ of two separate royals now, an unusual, but not unprecedented occurance.

"I believe Lloyd is already working on that." She replied with some exasperation.

"You mean… With _him_?" The man questioned, referring to Prince Schneizel.

"Yes, well, it's not like I've ever met him of course."

* * *

 **Viceroy's Palace Ballroom, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Suzaku returned his sword to its scabbard as Euphie gestured for him to rise and face the crowd of nobles.

He did so and was met with silence, the vast bulk of the nobles either unwilling to clap for a number on principle or too afraid of being outed and isolated by their peers for doing so.

And then Lloyd began clapping. The sociopathic Earl of Pudding honestly caring little for what the peerage thought of him.

Just as quickly, another four individuals joined in.

Suzaku looked over to see Darlton, Colonel, Iris and Liath clapping as well, varying degrees of smiles on the faces of the first three while the Executrix wore her ever inscrutable mask, although her body language emanated a sense of praise towards him.

The Glaston Knights quickly joined as well, followed by Earl Stadtfeld and the more liberal nobles, whom were now emboldened.

The rest of the guests were soon pressured to join, lest they be seen as boorish at such a prestigious event, which would reflect poorly on them in their relations with the rest of the peerage.

Suzaku and Euphie both smiled softly.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile Command Center, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Suzaku Kururugi." Diethard began as the highest echelons of the Black Knights met in the mobile command center, in the shadow of one of the settlement's vast solar array panels. "He's become a focal point among Elevens who are Britannian supporters." The former newsman noted. "I recommend he be _assassinated_."

Shirley recoiled in horror, as Suzaku was a close friend of hers as well as Lelouch while Zero turned to face him, Lelouch's face contorted in shock behind the mask. ="Assassinate him?"= He asked, somewhat in disbelief.

"He may be right." Rakshata conceded pragmatically. "You've been the focus of the Resistance movement while Britannia lacks a such a strapping young hero to play off for the servile masses. Still... Risk assessment would be necessary to make sure it's not counterproductive..."

Zero glanced at her, Lelouch conceding that from a pragmatic perspective, killing Suzaku _did_ make sense.

Still, both his own lingering sentimentality and an odd gut feeling told him that doing so would be a massive mistake.

"People aren't motivated by ideology alone, cults of personality are just as, if not more powerful than it. Lenin proved that much when he forged the USSR out of the ruins of Imperial Russia fifty years ago. And how Stalin then molded it into a superpower to rival even Britannia's might within two decades despite the lower overall landmass controlled." Diethard added. "The Britannians will hold up this boy as a symbol to _all_ numbers that they could in _theory_ , eventually ascend to such heights so long as they keep toiling away in servitude. I think taking him out would be the smart decision right now."

C2 scoffed audibly as Todoh finally opened his eyes to speak his peace.

"I object." The Miracle Maker of Itsukushima stated flatly.

"Hmm?" Diethard hummed as he glanced over at Todoh.

"The Japanese people would be absolutely _revolted_ by such a cowardly act." He insisted.

"Yeah, and the Black Knights are not in the business of killing the defenseless either!" Ohgi added heatedly. "What do you want us to do, get him when he's alone, and kill him straight out?!"

Shirley kept her mouth shut, she was too far in over her head here to offer an opinion at the moment. Although she _really_ didn't want to have to see Suzaku killed.

C2 opened one of her eyes. "While I'd hardly consider Kururugi defenseless, given that he took on a _Reploid_ in hand to hand at least once and came out on top." She said, causing several eyebrows to be raised before she continued. "But to add to Todoh's statement, assassinating Kururugi would have the _opposite_ effect that you believe it would Diethard, Britannia would make him a martyr if it were revealed that a member of the Black Knights had assassinated him." The Reploid stated sagely. "So if we _do_ kill him we lose three-fold. Britannia gets the poster child they want, the Black Knights are villainized on the global stage as petty murderers, and the more hardline nobles don't have to watch Britannian soldiers salute a Number anymore. Three birds with one stone, and they barely have to lift a finger."

"An interesting introspective Q2… One that is likely accurate." Todoh acknowledged grimly.

Zero nodded in agreement, remembering that the Britannian government had used his and Nunnally's reported deaths at the hands of the Japanese to rally public support for the invasion of Japan that started all of this.

"Calm down, all of you, I was merely suggesting we minimize a risk in the most efficient way possible. In the end, as always, it's Zero's call to make." Diethard said placatingly.

* * *

"What's so complicated… Just your Geass on Suzaku to make him quit or something." Nemo said as she laid about while C2 paced nervously nearby in Zero's office.

Lelouch examined the Black King from his chessboard with a frown on his face. "Drop it." He requested, not in the mood to spar words with the immortal.

"So stubborn… Why not, because he's your friend? Is it because C2's getting on your case about your over-reliance on Geass again? Or is it pride?" She asked lazily, the Reploid throwing her a glare.

Lelouch gasped, looking at her in shock before looking back at his chessboard. "All of it…"

"You might have to kill him, otherwise…"

Lelouch grimaced in response to the statement. "I know… But like I told you before… Only when I'm forced with a choice will I know if I'm truly able to make it…"

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Sub-Viceroy's Office, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"You haven't said anything about it yet." Euphie noted as she conferred with her elder sister over a video line.

["Appointing a Knight is a privilege of Royalty, it's out of my hands, even as Viceroy."] Cornelia replied, her tone not approving in the slightest.

"Don't you see, Suzaku Kururugi is an Honorary Britannian, and he's proved himself more than worthy of Knighthood." Euphie stated passionately. "Sister, even you have to-"

["It's _Viceroy_."] Cornelia corrected sharply.

" _I see, so we're speaking like that now…"_ Euphie thought sadly.

"Viceroy, even you must know he's deserving." Euphie corrected herself.

["I don't doubt his combat abilities and feats of valor, but at the end of the day, discrimination against numbers is our _national_ policy."] Cornelia warned her. ["You're treading _very_ dangerous water here Sub-Viceroy."]

"Then it's time I tried to change that!" Euphie huffed irately.

Cornelia's face turned red and she looked like she was about to have an aneurysm out of anger. ["Oh is it now _Sub-Viceroy_? Well when you become _Empress_ , then feel _free_ to do so!"] Cornelia snapped at her sister.

"Then maybe I _will_!" An equally angry Euphie shot back as she cut the call, nearly missing the sudden look of dumbfounded shock on her sister's face as the screen went dark.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Arena, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The Lancelot clashed with a Gloucester Liath was piloting for the nth time, the Executrix still holding her own despite the disparity in performance.

[ **="Just because you're a knight now and my Lancelot is undergoing an upgrade doesn't mean you get a free** **pass!"=** ] She taunted him as she maneuvered the Gloucester around, Suzaku clashing his MVS blade against hers before the Gloucester leapt over the Lancelot, using its slash harkens to boost its velocity further.

Suzaku wheeled the White Knightmare around on instinct and pulled out the VARIS, getting a target lock on the Executrix.

The ref promptly called the duel in favor of Suzaku.

Both Machines settled into idle stances as Liath chuckled over the radio.

"You let me have that... Didn't you..." Suzaku asked her.

[ **="Who can say."=** ] She replied cryptically as the Gloucester turned and rolled off, leaving the Lancelot standing alone in the arena.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **ERROR, LOCATION NOT FOUND.**

"Construction of the Sword of Aksha is proceeding as scheduled, we just need a few more thought elevators to ensure its security." Charle's voiced boomed through the void. "Yes… I understand." He replied to an unknown individual while a Geass cultist walked up to him and whispered something in his ear.

"What? Schneizel?" He whispered softly, having anticipated this.

"Yes your Majesty." The man confirmed. "Your orders?"

Charles smirked, the latest and thus far the most _critical_ move in the first phase of the great game he was playing with both his favored sons and that fool Vincent had finally occurred, what Lelouch did next would decide the fates of _millions_ for at least a year into the future.

"You needn't interfere, Liath will be monitoring him and the thought elevator at Kamine Island is beyond his mortal understanding regardless. If he's that sure of himself to try and decipher its secrets, let him challenge me." Charles assured the man whom nodded and walked off.

" _So Lelouch… Will the memories of a past that has been reset return soon enough to save countless lives from needless bloodshed, or is your greatest_ mistake _fated to be an eternal lesson to you?"_ The Emperor wondered as the footsteps faded and he was left alone in C's World.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Ballroom, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Okay guys, time to raise a glass to Kururugi here!" Rivalz announced, tossing a bottle of orange soda up and catching it with his other hand as dozens of students looked on at the newly Knighted Major Suzaku Kururugi. "Valued member of the student council and Knight of the Realm!" He said as he used his bar-tending experience to pour Suzaku's soda with a dramatic flourish. "Now let's get this party _started_ , huh?!"

There was a chorus of cheers and congratulations from the assembled students, many of them holding more positive views of Elevens than some of their peers at the school.

"You've Nunnally to thank for all this." Milly stated as the crowd descended into idle chatter.

"I'm sure you've tired of the celebrations, if you don't mind, we want to honor you too." The girl said sweetly.

"Not at all." Suzaku replied, causing Sayoko to smile warmly as Nunnally beamed happily. "It's really kind of you." He thanked her.

* * *

Elsewhere, Nina sighed as she looked at her magazine, gazing longingly at Euphie's face, more than aware that Britannian Knights often served as a Royal's _lover_ in addition to their protector and confidant. "Oh, what am I going to do…" She whispered softly. "Princess Euphemia…"

"Good afternoon!" Lloyd said as he barged into the room, the man's utter disregard for basic politeness on full display.

Nina gasped and turned to look at him, closing the magazine quickly.

"Have you seen Major Kururugi? They said I could find him here." Lloyd inquired as he walked up to Nina's desk.

He then spotted Nina's calculations out of the corner of his eye and leaned in, interested by them. "Ooh! Looks like you're working on some _fun_ stuff!"

"You know what it is?" Nina asked, amazed that she was in the presence of another capable scientific mind.

"Indeed, I studied under Doctor Fermi at Colchester prior to his unfortunate passing in 2009, I can tell a Uranium isotope when I see one." Lloyd replied, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"Wow! You actually learned under him! You must really know your stuff! Well, I've come up with a theory based on notes from my Grandfather and Doctor Fermi, if you can get the Uranium to absorb active neutrons, then it should split into high speed neutrons, and atomic nuclei!" Nina began excitedly, happy to be able to describe the process to another mind who'd understand it for the first time, Lloyd took off his glasses eyeing the data intently as he listened while Nina prattled on about Uranium 235 and enrichment processes.

" _I dare say, but this girl may have just proved that it_ is _possible to build a better_ **bomb** _, this could be the big break the Damocles and Ea projects In Vogue is working on needed."_ Lloyd thought, the scientist in him hoping to test the theories she was telling him at some point.

Besides, progress always required the breaking of a few eggs in his book, it was just a matter of _how many_.

* * *

"Hey Prez, where's Nina?" Shirley asked as she carried around two pizza trays, Milly walking alongside her with two of her own.

"I told her to be here… I guess she got nervous again." Milly sighed in exasperation.

Nearby, the door hissed open and Kallen entered.

The redhead's heart _pounded_ in her chest as she scanned the crowd for her target, holding her switchblade in its innocuous cloth case.

Spotting Suzaku, she steeled herself for what Diethard had told her needed to be done.

Shirley spotted Kallen as the girl walked forwards. "Oh hey, Kallen! Can you help me set out more Pizza?" She asked, only to frown as she realized her friend was ignoring her.

"Hey, are you listening?" She asked, only to see Kallen continuing on…

To where Suzaku was.

Shirley's eyes widened in shock as she realized what Kallen's intent likely was given her loyalty to Zero.

Something which she suspected a certain individual was exploiting.

" _Diethard… But why? C2 said outright_ why _it was a stupid idea…"_ The girl thought as Lelouch slipped through the crowd and stopped Kallen by grabbing her arm, causing her to jump in fright.

"Hey, I think Shirley wants you to give her a hand." Lelouch told Kallen rather jovially, hiding his fury at the fact that _someone_ had gone behind his back to order Suzaku's assassination.

And like Shirley, he was pretty damn sure as to whom was responsible.

"I'm sorry." Kallen said as she ripped her arm from his grasp. "But I'm right in the middle of something at the moment."

"What're you doing? Maybe I can help out?" He asked, keeping the front of obliviousness up.

It was at this point that Suzaku became aware of their presence, the boy looking over and spotting Lelouch and thus ruining any pretense of stealth she'd had. "Hey. Took you long enough."

Lelouch waved a hand at him. "I'm sorry, I got held up arguing with C2 about whether or not she would come to the party." Lelouch apologized. "She'd already made plans for today so she sends her regards."

"Well I hope she has a fun time then." Suzaku replied, not bothered by it in the least.

In reality it had been more or less an argument on as to whether C2 should protect Suzaku from any agents Diethard or the nobles might send, but the latter had eventually admitted to having made already made plans for a double date with X in order to go along with the Maverick Hunter Zero and some Repliforce Officer named Iris while they were shopping at Akibahara today.

Lelouch had conceded that C2 needed a life of her own aside from aiding his schoolwork, but had managed to extract a promise that she'd begin sparring and training more, noting that as the Rebellion picked up steam, conflict with the elites of Repliforce and the Maverick Hunters would be inevitable and that her current combat skills wouldn't cut it.

This agreement led to him inserting Nemo into the crowd, not that the disguised immortal had minded so long as she had a healthy supply of pizza.

He suspected that C2 had been sorely tempted by that, but likely had goaded X into going to a Pizza joint.

Shirley, meanwhile, exhaled in relief, knowing that Lelouch had prevented Kallen from likely getting herself killed like an idiot.

 _"She's a capable fighter... But she's just too impulsive for her own good sometimes..."_ The ginger thought.

"No problem." Suzaku replied. "She deserves to be get some time off too you know?"

"Yeah, after all she's had to put up with, it's the least I can do." Lelouch admitted.

" _Understatement of the century…"_ He thought as Suzaku rushed over while Kallen slipped away, much to his shock.

"I'm just happy you could be here." His friend said with a smile on his face. "By the way, what did you wanna talk about? You said it was kinda important right?"

" _Crap…"_ Lelouch thought as he remembered how _that_ plan had gone down in flames last night. "Oh uh… Yeah… Just forget it, it's not that important anymore."

The doors from the hallway hissed open. "Bad news Suzaku!" Lloyd announced as he stood there with Nina. "You just got even more work to do I'm afraid."

"Oh, right…" Suzaku said, realizing he was _still_ the Devicer for Lancelot in addition to his duties as Euphemia's Knight.

"You know him?" Lelouch asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, he's my boss, he's the guy who developed most of the tech we're using in the Lancelot." Suzaku admitted sheepishly.

" _I see… This must be the 'Earl of Pudding' Rakshata was talking about."_ Lelouch thought, noticing the man seemed less… Prestigious than he'd expected.

Although given that he was apparently rivaled with Rakshata, whom openly showed her own bra on a regular basis in addition to pipe smoking whenever she could, plus the comments she made while performing maintenance on C2 that could easily be taken as innuendo, much to the Reploid's visible discomfort, he presumed eccentrics was the word of the day when it came to the two Knightmare developers.

"Lloyd, is something wrong?" Milly asked as she walked over.

"Oh, do you guys know eachother?" Nina asked, somewhat confused.

"Her parents arranged for us to be married." Lloyd admitted freely.

Lelouch resisted the urge to sigh in exasperation. _"And cue Rivalz freak out beginning in… Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven…"_ The crowd gasped in shock. Milly Ashford, _their_ insanely eccentric Student Council president getting betrothed before even finishing high school was unthinkable to them.

"Isn't that right honey bunch?" Lloyd joked, having made it clear to Milly some time earlier that all he'd wanted out of the arrangement was the Ganymede that had once been used by Marianne the Flash, otherwise he'd have ignored the proposal in the first place.

"Uh yeah." Milly replied, wanting as little to do with this as Lloyd actually did.

"Secret's out…" Suzaku joked in embarrassment.

"So you knew?" Lelouch asked as he continued waiting for Rivalz to make his move. _"Six, five, four…"_

Suzaku nodded at him to confirm.

Rivalz rushed past them. _"Three, two,_ one _…"_ Lelouch thought as he finished his mental count down.

"Whoa! Whoa!" The Blue haired boy said as he stopped in front of Lloyd. "What's going on here… Who is this guy!?" He asked Milly.

"Earl Asplund… He's my family's ticket back into the peerage…" Milly admitted, whispering the second part spitefully to herself.

"EARL!?"

Lelouch again resisted the all too tempting urge to groan in exasperation at Rivalz's antics.

"It's an honor your lordship." He told Lloyd, whom seemed amused by the boy before turning back to Milly. "Now, what did you say your relationship was again?" He asked her.

"She and I are betrothed." Lloyd said with mischievous glint in his eyes, deciding to troll Rivalz about it for his own amusement.

Rivalz reeled back and screamed in dismay as Lelouch closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, thankful that C2 wasn't present otherwise she'd have actually hit him.

Lloyd simply smirked at him.

"You were serious then?" Nina asked in shock.

Suzaku took a step forwards. "So, do I have military duties then?" He inquired.

"Yes… An important someone-or-other is arriving by ship on Shikane Island." Lloyd said. "We're off to meet him, along with the Lancelot and Princess Euphemia naturally." Lloyd said, cocking his head slightly as Lelouch frowned while the girls in the crowd, minus Nunnally, Sayoko, Kallen and Shirley, began squealing.

" _C2's going to_ kill me _over this…"_ He thought, realizing the Reploid really wouldn't like being torn away from her date with X, one of the few things she had going that wasn't utterly stressful for her.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMS** _ **Iwo Jima**_ **,** **LHA-1, en-route to Shikane Island.**

Aboard bridge of the _Iwo_ _Jima_ , Suzaku frowned as he watched the escorting _John C Butler_ -class Guided Missile Frigates HIMS _Groves_ and HIMS _Straus_ , the _Action_ -class Corvette HIMS _Action_ , and the _Gearing_ -class Guided Missile Destroyer HIMS _Timmerman_ sail alongside the assault ship, the sleek, modern profiles of the escorts making for a fine appearance as they cut through the waves. "Why Shikane Island?" He asked, knowing it only had a small Marine garrison alongside an airfield used by Navy maritime patrol aircraft and Coast Guard air units. Hardly suited to meeting an important dignitary.

"Yes, I'm curious about that myself." Cecile agreed, quite curious as to why they were coming all the way out here.

Suzaku turned to her in shock. "Wait what!? You're saying you don't know anything about this either?"

"Ditto." A hunched over Lloyd added, causing Suzaku to turn to him as well.

"You still shouldn't have said anything, after all, your loose lips got the plans leaked onto the internet, and now the entire West Pacific Fleet is on high alert after the sonobouy array detected an unknown large submarine contact moving about near the Tokyo settlement." Cecile said in mild exasperation.

Lloyd cocked his head and stood up straighter. "That girl was so charming though, I just couldn't resist." He admitted.

* * *

 **Black Knights Submarine** _ **Isaribi**_ **, en-route to Shikane Island.**

="Euphemia is going to that Island to meet a noble from the Britannian Homeland."= Zero reported as the Black Knights he'd gathered for this operation assembled while the Submarine slowly followed in the wake of the amphibious taskforce, running silent to avoid detection. ="Her Knight, Suzaku Kururugi, will be accompanying her."=

="This far out at sea, the enemy's strength will be limited to what they have on hand and Imperial Air Force and Navy units responding to any distress calls, which'll take time they might not have. Making this a golden opportunity for us."= He explained. ="Our primary objective is the _capture_ of the Lancelot and Suzaku Kururugi."= The masked man said, stressing the word capture. ="Once we've won the battle, I want Kururugi taken _safely_ into our custody."= He clarified, much to the relief of Kallen, Shirley, and Todoh.

"So, what happens after we've got him?" Tamaki asked, voicing the pertinent question.

="Don't worry, Q2 and I will handle that."= He confirmed as C2 glanced over at him out of the corner of her eye, having informed him that X and Zero had ended the date early due to Maverick Hunter business much to Lelouch's shock, which had been tempered as he suspected it had something to do with the arriving dignitary.

* * *

In the main hold of the Sub, Rakshata hummed as she looked at the spot on the map that Zero had marked for her team. "So that's the spot huh…"

"You think it's going to work?" Her second asked, knowing that they hadn't field tested the Gefjun Disturbers yet.

"I think we'll be fine." She replied smugly. "The stealth effect we get as a byproduct seems to be working anyways."

"I don't think it affects sonar though, only electromagnetic frequencies." He noted. somewhat confused that Rakshata would mention that.

"Ah silly me, I got acoustic and electromagnetic wavelengths mixed up again." She chuckled at him.

"You're just seeing If I'm not just nodding and saying yes aren't you…"

"Of course, do you honestly think _I'd_ forget the difference?" Rakshata asked him with a smirk.

* * *

From a catwalk above, Diethard looked down upon the two.

Behind him Zero walked up. ="Diethard, just _what_ did you talk Kallen into doing?"= Zero inquired, figuring the answer already.

"I told her to dig up what she could on Kururugi." He stated with his typical sense of smug self-satisfaction. "Maybe I implied a little _more_ than that…"

="Don't overstep your bounds, I don't recall ordering his assassination. Watch yourself from here on out lest I hand the role of head of intelligence off to someone else."= Zero warned him.

"You want us to be the hammer of justice correct?" Diethard asked as he turned to face Zero. "We can't have people thinking of us as cold-blooded killers I know. But we can _hide_ the truth by using the media."

Lelouch frowned as he realized how quickly Diethard had settled into his new role as chief of intelligence.

"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty. Am I wrong?" He asked, a cocksure grin on his face.

Lelouch hissed under his breath. ="No, you're not, but there are lines that need to be drawn lest we give up the _visible_ moral high ground to a nation of tyrants who've enslaved a third of the planet."= He conceded before continuing. ="So tell me Diethard, what are you _really_ after?"= He asked. ="You may have been demoted in social status but you're still a Britannian. You don't _need_ to join the Black Knights to change the world, do you?"=

Diethard smirked. "I never mentioned this but the first time I saw you was the night you rescued Kururugi. And I _trembled_ for it was like a new era had taken form and appeared before me, I was witnessing _history_ being made before my very eyes!" He said as he turned his head to face Zero. "I wish to document you Zero, every great journalist has their great story that they cover over the course of their careers, and this… Yours, will be _mine_! As you build your organization and topple the crooked orders that rule this world, I will be there, every step of the way, documenting history as it is _created_!" He said gleefully. "Nothing has _ever_ made my heart dance more!"

="Documenting, you're right in the thick of it… I'd say you're _fabricating_ history."= Zero said as he turned and walked away.

"Pure objectivity is a fairy tale, in the end, journalism is a product of the human mind, like everything else."

Lelouch glanced back at him warily from behind his mask. ="You're not to interfere with military matters unless I give you field orders myself."= He warned in the event Diethard got any further ideas.

"Yes, of course." He acknowledged.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shikane Island Base, Area 11.**

"Arrival time is right on schedule…" One of the officers of the base's Marine Complement reported to Euphie as the Lancelot's trailer was unloaded from the assault ship via a crane. "We've prepared a room for you back at HQ if you'd like to wait there."

"Is it safe to assume that the ship is docking here?" Euphie inquired.

"Yes, that hasn't changed." The man confirmed.

"This will do fine then." Euphie decided as X and Zero walked past with Launch Octopus of the 6th Marine unit and a few Maverick Hunter troopers.

"Very well, I'll just arrange for an escort." The man said before he heard the crackle of static on his headset radio.

In the distance explosions rumbled as smoke began to rise into the sky.

* * *

Colonel Fayer of the Britannian Marine Corps gazed upon the damage in shock as he watched shells land all around his base. "Terrorists, but how the hell did they get here without us or the flotilla noticing!?"

"They might have used a Submarine sir!" One of the techs reported.

Fayer snarled, realizing there was only one group with that kind of tech and industrial ability who could possibly have had a reason to support the Black Knights. "Those damn Indians!"

* * *

An AV-1 Cobra that had attempted to take off was hit by a slash Harken from Todoh's Gekka, the aircrew ejecting as the VTOL fell from the sky with all the grace of a dead crow and exploded on impact with the ground.

"First squad, continue advancing! Focus on anyone and anything shooting back, ignore the MPAs, cargo planes, and Coast Guard aircraft unless you're fired upon from in and around them, we can't afford to waste the ammo!" Todoh ordered. "Zero squad, cover them from the flank! Try not to hit the barracks or the base infirmary!"

["Yes sir!"] Both squads acknowledged as the Gurens of Zero squad took off while Asahina led first squad's Burais into the base.

A Britannian Marine Corps Security Glasgow rushed down the attackers rather foolhardily. ["Filthy Elevens!"] The pilot shouted before Kallen landed in front of it and wiped him out with a wave surger charge, the Mark One Kais following up behind the Mark Two.

["She really packs a punch, huh?"] Asahina noted as they wiped out most of the handful of Glasgows and Liverpools that had sortied to defend the relatively low priority airbase. The few armored car crews ditching their vehicles after realizing it was useless to resist in them.

* * *

On the cliffs above, Lelouch noted the overwhelming success they were having against their enemy, Todoh having wisely taken out the few Marine VTOL gunships out of play first and avoided wasting his ammo just shooting the place up when the real fight was probably en-route at that moment.

" _Impressive, it's no wonder Todoh held off the Britannians once before with only a few mechanized units and a single tank company."_ He observed. _"Now I only have to wait for Euphemia to receive word of our 'visit'…"_

* * *

"The base appears to be under attack!" The marine officer reported after checking from his jeep.

Euphie gasped in shock.

"We'll attempt to withdraw to the settlement." Cecile suggested. "Can you arrange some form of escort unit for her?"

"It's too risky to leave right now, there's some kind of wide spectrum jamming in effect and command suspects the enemy most likely arrived via submarine!" The officer informed them.

Suzaku turned to face Euphie. "You're going to be fine, don't worry Princess, I won't let any harm come to you." He assured her.

"No Suzaku, you should help these men fend off the attack." She responded, her face stern.

"But Sub-Viceroy! He's an _Honorary Britannian_!" The Marine officer stated firmly.

"An Honorary Britannian trained by the _Executrix_ herself." Lloyd interrupted smarmily, shutting the man up.

X and Zero rushed over to the group.

"You guys getting nothing either?" Zero inquired as the Maverick Hunter crossed his arms.

"Nothing, we can't even raise the _Iwo Jima_ and she's right next to us." The Marine replied to the Hunter, glad for the change in subject. "Where's Launch Octopus?"

"He headed back to defend the base, saying that he'll show us how the 6th Marine fights." X said in exasperation.

"Well that's just great..." The officer growled, knowing that as a heavily aquatic optimized Reploid, Launch Octopus might not even reach the base before the attack ended.

"Kururugi…" Euphie began. "Demonstrate your valor for us today. So that we may finally silence these nay-sayers." She requested.

"Right!" Suzaku said as X and Zero jumped into another Jeep and drove towards the base, a handful of trucks loaded with Maverick Hunter troopers in tow.

* * *

Kallen opened up on a Glasgow with the Guren's arm mounted 40mm cannon, the shells tearing through the tungsten armor and frame of the Knightmare, its pilot ejecting as his machine went down before she leapt into the air over the wreckage as a second Knightmare rolled out from behind cover.

["Worthless garrison unit!"] She growled as she fired off a short burst from the wave surger at the other Glasgow, knocking the pilot out and sending the Knightmare to the ground in a heap.

Shirley had seen some of the bodies of her victims at Narita, and the descriptions of it had made Kallen vomit, even though she was sure the ginger had been holding back on the worst of the details.

["Right, I'll finish him off!"] Tamaki chuckled before his Burai's screens suddenly cut out and then his cockpit auto-ejected, the Lancelot withdrawing its Slash Harkens as the Burai collapsed into a smoking heap on the tarmac.

The Guren Mark Two stared down the Lancelot as the surviving Britannian Knightmares, armored cars and armored personnel carriers fell back.

* * *

Reacting instantly as his warning sensors blared, Suzaku blocked a shot from Zero's Burai with the Blaze Luminous, the other Gurens of Zero squad flanking it.

His targeting sensors locked onto the masked man, whom was standing on the open cockpit seat of his Knightmare. "Zero… There you are…"

* * *

="That's right Suzaku, come!"= Lelouch growled under his breath. ="Q2, keep the Maverick Hunters away from us, if they get too close too soon the plan'll be ruined."= He ordered.

["Roger…"] She replied pensively, not liking the odds of fighting three versus one against veteran Hunters.

* * *

Todoh placed his brake sword before him to use as a thruster. "Confirming target! All units assume formation three and fall back!" He ordered as the Gekka Custom and its associated squad withdrew. "Do not fire on the target, I repeat, do not fire!"

* * *

Back in the command center, Fayer answered a priority call once the Black Knights had withdrawn. "Yes, thanks to the special corps. Wha…? But that would mean…" He snapped to as he got his orders. "Yes, Your Highness!" He acknowledged without a moment's hesitation.

* * *

Elsewhere on the island, C2 led X and Zero on a wild goose chase after tangling Launch Octopus up in some trees, noting that the third wheel had proven to be ill-suited for land based combat and left the self-proclaimed 'Artist of Underwater Combat' dangling comically, surrounded by _very_ irate birds, as she withdrew.

That left the other two, while she still didn't like these odds, she could work with them since all the grunt Hunters had stayed behind to assist damage control at the airbase.

Plus she knew how they fought somewhat and most importantly of all wasn't in a position where they could force her into a prolonged engagement.

Hopefully.

She clashed her drill against Zero's beam saber before she broke clear of him and darted back into the brush, a salvo from X's buster fragmenting a tree she'd just passed.

She resisted the urge to return fire as she shifted about through concealment, the two hunters undoubtedly scanning about, as it would ensure her current position as given away, and she needed to keep this cat and mouse game going as long as possible without being locked up by either of them.

Although she also had to _keep_ their attention on her, which implied occasionally giving her position away but not in an obvious enough way for them to realize it was bait.

Activating Vile's data set she fired several micro-artillery shells into the brush from her freshly sprouted shoulder cannon, being rewarded by X squawking in alarm as they went off.

She immediately switched back to her drills to block Zero's attempted ambush from above while utilizing the speed gear to move faster than the Maverick Hunter could react, finally switching to the Guts Man set to toss him off into the brush as X trudged forwards, firing away at her as she simply slide dashed to the side.

Taking cover behind a tree, she mentally counted to five as she held her buster upraised in a ready stance before swinging out and firing at X, whom dove for cover as the energy blasts turned trees around and behind him into splinters and pelting him with flaming debris.

Switching to the Shadow Man set, she tossed a pair of smoke bombs down to give cover for her withdrawal, X and Zero soon in hot pursuit once again.

" _Ugh, the persistence is_ really _getting on my nerves…"_ She grumbled mentally as she blind fired back into the brush to keep their heads down.

And as her luck would have it she stumbled right onto the ambush site.

"Well fuck…"

X and Zero barreled out of the brush and tackled her down into the sand pit, all three Reploids coming to a halt at the bottom in a just as the Lancelot activated its MVS blade.

And then the Gefjun Disturbers were activated, the EM frequency almost locking up the three Reploids due to them not being properly shielded.

"Gah… What…" X grunted as they barely got to their feet, electricity arcing between them.

* * *

["We need to talk Kururugi!"] Zero stated over the loudspeakers of his Burai as C2 grinned victoriously while the shielded onboard systems of all three Reploids finally adjusted to the EM pulse created by the disturbers, a feature introduced into each by their creators, whom remembered the global EMP used during Ra Moon's attempt to conquer Earth in 20XX.

["I suggest you come out, your secondary systems should still be functioning, as for you Maverick Hunters, stand down, you're outnumbered and outgunned."] Zero ordered as his own Burai issued sparks due to it's primary systems being disabled as well. The rest of his forces moving up to surround the shallow pit, the seven Gurens each forming a strongpoint for the encirclement.

["All three of you shall be treated as Prisoners Of War under the stipulations of international law."] The masked man promised. ["Of course, if none of you care to talk civilly, we could just gun you down."] He warned.

X and Zero threw their hands up in surrender while Suzaku grimaced inside his cockpit.

* * *

"I don't care!" Euphie stated as she strode over to Cecile, whom was working frantically to find out what had gone wrong. "Tell Suzaku to abandon the unit! What could possibly have gone wrong with it? How come it won't move?"

Cecile frowned pensively. "Something happened to the Sakuradite that's powering the Lancelot! Somehow someone's interfering with it!"

"A Gefjun disturber…" Lloyd stated grimly, now fully aware of Rakshata's involvement with the Black Knights.

"You mean!?" Cecile asked in shock, turning to look at Lloyd.

"But they're actually using it as a jamming mechanism. I thought it only theoretical… What a _fool_ I am…" He said, eye twitching slightly. "It really is you, _Rakshata._ "

* * *

Back at the ambush site, C2 stood idly about as she waited for further instructions from Zero on what to do with the two Maverick Hunters.

"It looks like the range could still use a little work, along with some fine tuning to make it less detrimental to Reploids…" She noted under her breath as Suzaku rode Lancelot's boarding line down.

Zero, already down, was walking over to Suzaku with a pistol aimed at him.

" _Lelouch, you're a fucking idiot."_ C2 sighed mentally, knowing that he should be well aware of the fact that if he got too close then Suzaku was liable to do something batshit insane before he could react.

="I'll get straight to the point Suzaku Kururugi, I want you to join me."= Zero opened.

" _Again with this? Lelouch, do I have to beat it into your thick fucking skull that Suzaku has no intention of joining you?!"_ The verdant Reploid thought irately, now starting to get outright annoyed by his crap.

"Is that a threat?" Suzaku asked, not having any of it. "Well you can _forget_ it. I _already_ told you, results gained through contemptible means are worthless to me." He stated flatly.

="So, you wouldn't describe the peace we have now as worthless?"= Zero suggested as C2 narrowed her eyes.

" _Wait… Lelouch, what the hell are you doing?"_ She wondered as X too narrowed his eyes.

Suzaku gasped, surprised.

="If Japan had resisted to her very last breath seven years ago, what do _you_ think would've happened?"= He inquired. ="The Chinese, Soviets, and EU would've stepped in and partitioned Japan into four pieces if possible."= Zero stated grimly, leaving those around him to imagine the country in such a state. ="There would be incessant streams of border skirmishes and incidents even now, waiting to spill over into a _global_ war once someone has had enough."=

="Thus, our current 'peace' is the result of Japan's immediate and unconditional surrender."=

Suzaku's eyes widened as he realized exactly _what_ he may have averted. "That's right… And I've been fighting to preserve my father's peace, ever since it began…" Suzaku insisted shakily, as if he didn't entirely believe what he was saying.

="You're wrong…"= Zero stated. ="Prime Minister Kururugi, elected by the _people_ , didn't choose surrender. _That_ decision was selfishly made by his _killer_."=

Suzaku's eyes widened as C2 frowned further. _"You're treading dangerous water here Lelouch…"_ She thought.

="With the government thrown into chaos, surrender became the only logical choice."= Zero stated. ="The will of the people was _stolen_ from them by a lone criminal pursuing a selfish agenda!"=

"And that criminal _was_ my father." Suzaku finally said after steeling himself, bringing the entire speech to a screeching halt.

" _WHAT?!"_ Lelouch thought in surprise as C2's jaw dropped while X and Zero suddenly froze.

"Prime Minister Kururugi sold Japan out, every detail of our defenses was known to Britannia _months_ in advance, the specifications of our missiles, the composition and effectiveness of our tanks' armor and ammo, the capabilities of our torpedoes, the frequencies of the SDF's targeting radars, the battle plans we'd utilize in the event of an invasion, the locations of hardened fuel bunkers and tank shelters, the patrol patterns and acoustic frequencies of our submarines… All sold to Britannia by the man the _people_ elected." Suzaku snarled angrily, much to the horror of Zero and the three nearby Reploids.

"And for what? An empty title of nobility? He _knew_ Japan was doomed regardless of what happened and decided to hedge his bets with the winning side, the war was _rigged_ from the start to ensure maximum Japanese losses and minimal Britannian ones. Just ask Todoh or Kirihara, they helped cover it up since I killed him over a _month_ before hostilities began."

Zero was frozen as Lelouch felt the tide turn against him. _"That's why they never let me talk to him just prior to the invasion… Because he was already dead…"_

A bead of sweat rolled down his brow.

"So go ahead, villainize me all you want, he may have been my father yes, but he left me little choice but to kill him." Suzaku half-lied, knowing that he could never reveal the _real_ reason why he'd murdered his father.

" _Well… That's… Not something that happens every day."_ C2 thought, whistling softly as X and Zero glanced nervously at eachother.

* * *

"Can you hear them at all?" Euphie asked Cecile.

"There's still too much static on the mic." Cecile replied to her, continuing to try and break through the jamming with ECCM.

* * *

Suzaku's eyes narrowed. "So my question is, how _on_ Earth did _you_ know I killed him, did Todoh tell you?" He asked as Lelouch's mind spun, trying to retake the initiative from his friend.

="But that doesn't change the fact that both you _and_ your father stole the choice of the people away from them…"= Zero stated calmly, ignoring the question and causing Suzaku to take a step back out of guilt as the masked man walked up next to him. ="The only way for you to atone now is to present to them the choice that they weren't able to make then."=

="The option that was taken from them by two selfish individuals seven years ago, fighting Britannia!"= He whispered, leaning in almost conspiratorially.

"Fighting them? That _again_?" Suzaku snapped angrily.

="It's an option _worth_ exploring. Or would you rather drive the masses towards a future dictated by _your_ own egotism?"= He demanded. ="You call _that_ peace? How trite and arrogant!"=

The hatred in Suzaku's eyes was palpable, and seeing it hurt Lelouch deeply. _"I'm doing what needs to be done… For Nunnally's sake…"_

Radio static echoed in Suzaku's ear as a transmission finally broke through.

["-Major Kururugi…!? Please respond!"] Fayer demanded.

"May I?" He asked.

="As you wish."= Zero said, Suzaku clicking his incom headset to receive the transmission.

"Kururugi."

["This is Lieutenant Colonel Fayer, Commander of the garrison here on Shikane Island, higher authorities have ordered the launch of surface-to-surface missiles to your location!"] He stated over the radio. ["Major Kururugi you have been ordered to keep Zero there at _all_ costs!"]

Lelouch's eyes widened. ="They're giving him up to die?!"= He whispered in horror.

And then he remembered Diethard's words about being able to spin his death in a favorable light.

" _They're going to claim he was already dead and that they avenged him!"_

And before he could blink Suzaku had taken him hostage, holding Zero's own sidearm against his mask, X exchanging a look with C2, both Reploids unsure what to do at the moment and frozen by indecision.

Zero on the other hand began to slowly reach for his saber, narrowing his eyes at C2 after ensuring Suzaku had the 'other' Zero well in hand.

="Kururugi!? What are you-!?"= He gasped, stunned by his seemingly suicidal actions.

"I can't approve of your methods…" Suzaku hissed under his breath as he slowly edged back towards the Lancelot with his hostage. "All I can do right now is _this_!"

* * *

"Why you little!" Kallen hissed under her breath.

["Don't move! The field will affect you too!"] One of Rakshata's techs warned over the radio.

"But… Zero!"

* * *

A single Portman unit came to a halt near the ASEEC trailer and disembarked its pilot as the Captain turned to his subordinates. "We're assigning this Portman to escort them." He informed them as Euphemia and the others trotted up.

"The sub-viceroy should be taken out of the-"

"Wait!" Euphie shouted.

"You're going to destroy the Lancelot?!" Lloyd stated in utter disbelief.

"Our orders are clear." The man stated grimly. "Kururugi is to hold Zero there for our forces to destroy him."

"And _whose_ idea was this!?" Euphemia demanded indignantly. "Sir Kururugi is my personal knight!"

The officer turned to face Euphemia, his expression even. "It was a para-level one order, it can only be countermanded by the consensus of at least _three_ ranking generals or a high Imperial Official such as the Viceroy herself, a Knight of the Round or the Executrix I'm afraid."

"Then _who_ exactly issued this order captain!?" She questioned. "Get me a line to them _immediately_." Euphie insisted, barely keeping herself composed.

"Para-level _one_ order Princess Euphemia." The man repeated.

Euphie shoved past him as she bolted for the Portman impulsively.

"Sub-viceroy!" He shouted in dismay as she rode the boarding line up before anyone could stop her.

"Contact the base, tell them there's a chance I'll be caught in the attack, see if they'll initiate their launch _then._ " She scoffed as she climbed inside the Knightmare.

"But Sub-Viceroy! The base doesn't _have_ any surface to surface missile batteries!" He desperately tried to inform her as the Portman closed up its cockpit. "Please, stop this! Sub-Viceroy!" He pleaded as it turned and roared off.

"They'll stop the attack if the Princess is there… Right?" Cecile asked nervously.

"Hmm, if it's a ship launched attack then those cruise missiles are probably already in flight…" Lloyd remarked morbidly. "There's not much anyone here can do really."

* * *

["Multiple incoming missiles confirmed! Britannian RGM-59 Anvils!"] Chiba reported in horror.

"Damn!" Todoh growled as he tried to visually scan for the incoming warheads.

["Hold on! I'm coming!"] Kallen shouted.

Then, to his horror, the Guren Mark Two impulsively leapt into the sand trap, nearly running over the three Reploids as it too came to a screeching halt as its Sakuradite based systems shut down.

* * *

Suzaku shoved Zero against the front of the Lancelot's cockpit, holding his pistol at the masked man.

="Damnit! You're gonna die here as well, you know that!?"= He said heatedly. ="You don't have a problem with that!?"=

["Your sacrifice isn't in vain major!"] Fayer told him over the comms. ["We're about to put an end to the most dangerous _criminal_ our homeland has ever known! They'll speak of your _bravery_ for generations to come!"]

Suzaku glanced over at the equally trapped Maverick Hunters. _"And what about them…?"_ He thought sadly.

="Shut up!"= Zero snarled as he slammed the control panel.

* * *

"All Knightmares! Target those missiles and throw up a barrage! Empty your guns if you have to!" Todoh ordered while secretly hoping for a miracle.

["Aww no way! There's no way we can get them all!"] One of the Black Knights cried out in dismay as they opened fire, barely hitting any of the missiles due to the distance and lack of accurate targeting data, in addition to the weapons not being designed for anti-missile defense in the first place.

["We're done for!"] Another exclaimed.

["Shut up and keep firing!"]

C2 also joined in, firing desperately with her buster, as did X and Zero, neither of whom wished to be forced off line thanks to Britannia's internal politics.

* * *

"Suzaku! Let Zero go!" Kallen called out as she dismounted from the Guren. "It's me Suzaku! Kallen Stadtfeld from the student council!"

Her efforts were fruitless thanks to the thunderous volleys of gunfire issuing from the other Knightmares drowning out what she was saying.

"LOOK AT ME!" She screamed as she ran towards the Lancelot, C2 barely sparing her a glance as she kept firing.

* * *

The Portman Euphie had hijacked continued on the unpaved road towards the ambush site, the Princess desperately hoping for the best.

" _Suzaku… You can't die now!"_

* * *

"A soldier must always follow his orders!" Suzaku stated to Zero, awaiting the end to the everlasting torment he called living.

Zero scoffed. ="Huh! Certainly easier than following your own heart!"= The masked man sneered at him. Lelouch having had just about enough of Suzaku's idiocy for a lifetime at that moment. ="How do _you_ feel about this! Being told to throw your own life away because someone else thought _killing me_ was worth it!?"= He snapped at him. ="What kind of soldier is happy to do that!?"=

"You're wrong! I have rules that I made and need to live by!" Suzaku shot back angrily before he noticed a vast shadow looming over them.

* * *

Kallen stopped mid-charge and gazed in awe and horror as C2, Zero, and X stopped firing, lowering their buster as they too gazed up at the immense form of the black _Avalon_ -class airship, _Morgan le Fay_ , with mouths agape as the incoming rounds from the Knightmares were blocked by its Blaze Luminous shielding.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS _Morgan le Fay_** **, Shikane Island Airspace, Area 11.**

"Your eminence, Prince Schneizel will be most displeased by this action…" One of the officers reported.

 **="Captain Bright, I have little patience for the maneuvering of the Royals and Nobles, intercept the incoming Anvils and prepare to fire the Scathacth's hadron cannon."=** Liath ordered, keeping her gaze aimed at the Lancelot, thew view of which filled the viewscreen in front of her.

"Yes, Your Eminence." The man said as he snapped to. "Knock those Anvils out of the sky!" He barked at the bridge crew, who relayed it to the ship's CIC.

* * *

Interceptor missiles spewed out from the ship's VLS cells, swatting numerous Anvil missiles, while the ship's CIWS chainguns skewered the cruise missiles that got past the interceptors from the skies.

* * *

 **Shikane Island, Area 11.**

Rakshata's mouth dropped open, the arm holding her pipe falling to her side. "They completed a warship grade float system… Well I'm certainly outdone…"

* * *

Euphie gazed upon the _Morgan le Fay_. "That's… The Executrix's personal _Avalon_ -class…" She whispered as a bay on the underside of the ship opened, revealing a single twinkling point of red light in the shadows.

* * *

 **HIMAS _Morgan le Fay_** **, Shikane Island Airspace, Area 11.**

 **="Fire the Gae Bulg cannon on my mark!"=** Liath ordered with a sweep of her hand.

* * *

 **Shikane Island, Area 11.**

"No! It can't be!" Todoh gasped as he gazed upon the freshly upgraded Lancelot Unit two hiding in the shadows of the ship's hangar.

* * *

="Damnit Suzaku do something! You're going to _die_!"= Zero pleaded desperately, Suzaku barely noticing the sudden informality.

"Better that than breaking the rules!" Suzaku retorted, passing Lelouch's tolerance threshold for his stupidity.

="YOU STUBBORN **IDIOT**!"= He screamed as the eyeport on his mask opened up, his Geass activating. ="I ORDER YOU TO LIVE DAMN YOU!"=

Suzaku was too stunned to even begin to comprehend what was occurring as everything seemed to slow, C2 getting tackled to the ground by X, Kallen screaming in terror, the Maverick Hunter Zero freezing up, Euphie running towards the pit and shouting Suzaku's name.

* * *

Aboard the _Isaribi_ , which sat not far offshore, Nemo opened a single eye. "So, the climactic act of the first phase begins." She whispered softly.

* * *

Then the hadron cannon designated _Gae Bulg_ fired, spraying violent red energy pulses over a wide area and obscuring everything in smoke and fire.

* * *

 **September 27 2017 ATB.**

 **Unknown location, Pacific Ocean.**

[DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE. ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL. REBOOTING.]

C2's face contorted as she stirred, her eyes slowly fluttering open as she gazed at a canopy of trees

Sitting up, she heard the calls of seabirds over her head and gazed out upon the vast, seemingly endless expanse of the Pacific.

"Wha… Where the hell…"

"That's a question I'd like answered as well… C2..." A _very_ familiar voice asked.

Stiffening, she turned to see X sitting there at her side, looking _less_ than pleased with her.

" _Oh crap…"_

* * *

 **AN: And thus, the buildup continues.**

 **As for Lloyd's thoughts and actions, remember, the guy's a massive sociopath, he understands how humans _should_ interact.**

 **He just doesn't _care_. Also I found it strange in hindsight that he didn't make it immediately obvious that he had no real interest in Milly from the get-go, plot buildup aside it doesn't make sense, since it would be sufficiently Lloyd-like to pretty much just outright tell her that all actually he wanted was the Ganymede.**


	21. Stage 21: All roads lead to Kamine

**AN: So yeah, things are finally heading towards the grand climax of the R1/X1 arc, I'd** _ **hoped**_ **to do more original content around this time but sadly I found that the pacing of the show just didn't allow for it as it picks up** _ **rapidly**_ **in the second half of R1, that said, I hope that the major changes I've already been making are leaving more of a dent in canon than I hope they are.**

 **Also, please do remember that at the end of the day, no matter how attached we get to them, characters are _not_ people, they have all the traits of their 'real' counterparts, but at the end of the day they are beholden to whims of a writer or player acting in the place of a god, not their own desires, abilities, and wishes (Hence why crackfics, abridged series, and parodies exist). Too many people seem to forget that, especially when it comes to Lelouch and Suzaku here for example.**

 _ **Glances in general direction of angry people ranting that the FLEIJA bombing of Tokyo was**_ **entirely _Suzaku's fault when it was a very complex combination of events going all the way back to Season 1 and Schneizel's skillful manipulation of the former and Lelouch that caused it. And that it only happened at all because the writers decided to_ make _it happen._**

 **A good self-insert writer will understand that this is the _inverse_ for a story's sake, and that characters _will_ react in ways we do not expect based on hidden dynamics the official works did not explore, as one Evangelion story that seemed to have died off did.**

 **All of this is a must to understand, and remains so unless we somehow prove multiverse theory and the existence of fictional media as reality inside many of these alternate universes.**

 **Of course this doesn't disprove the point that in print, digital, or audio/video format characters are still at the whim of a writer and not themselves.**

 **Also as an aside, the Zevon family _did_ build the Gawain, and as Schneizel was on an off the books visit to Shikane, likely borrowed it from them before it was _officially_ transferred to military control.**

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Kamine Island, Pacific Ocean.**

Seagulls cawed and circled overhead as the water lapped at Suzaku's body, dampening his pilot suit further, the young man stirring finally and sitting up.

"Where's the Lancelot…" He groaned as he attempted to get his bearings. Scanning about, he only saw the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, not another landmass in sight.

Now more alert he scrambled to his feet. "Zero!" He gasped, remembering some of what had been going on prior to his awakening on the seemingly deserted island.

Checking himself, he noticed the sidearm he'd taken from Zero was gone and frowned.

Glancing about, Suzaku spoted an impassive cliffside and realized he was no longer on Shikane Island, nor did he see any sign of the Black Knights or Britannian forces.

"It's no use…" He sighed as he racked his memory for answers and got nothing. "I can't remember a thing…"

* * *

Elsewhere on the Island, Lelouch, still in his Zero outfit, ambled about after reawakening, and having gotten as far away from Suzaku as possible before the other could awaken, waves lashing at some nearby rocks.

="Where am I?"= He whispered softly, confused as all hell.

* * *

Having clambered up the side of the rock face, Suzaku frowned as he glanced down at the shoreline, confirming his suspicions. "Just as I thought, this is another island…"

The pertinent question was how in the hell did he get here from Shikane.

* * *

If it were physically possible for her, sweat would've been rolling down C2's face as X stared her down, his green eyes meeting her golden ones.

"How…"

"You have a bad habit of sleeptalking during your self diagnostics apparently. So you basically spilled everything... Including the fact you're a Lalinde Number..." X replied softly, much to her embarrassment. "I'd had some suspicions that you were Zero's ally given your apparent discomfort around Britannian Soldiers during the cleanup at Narita, and of course your sudden appearance in full armor while fighting Gareth, but nothing concrete. The real question I have is _why_?"

C2 looked down at her feet. "Because… I've experienced Britannia's depravity first-hand…"

X raised an eyebrow, gesturing for her to continue.

C2 sighed. "Prince Clovis's Royal Guard dug me up in the Philli-… Area 12, and the Prince's little pet project, Code R, proceeded to experiment on me for the next several years… Damaging or destroying many of my memories in the process, in addition to more _physical_ damage due to unfamiliarity with the technology in my body…"

There was a sudden look of horror on X's face. "That's why you needed those all those core system replacement parts." He realized. "So does that student…?"

"No." She said calmly, hoping that X wouldn't pick up on the lie. "I've been working deep cover for Zero for since Shinjuku…" C2 said, _that_ part being the truth.

"Shinjuku?" X asked, confused.

"Some terrorists stole the truck I was being transported to a new site in, largely because the KGB had compromised the extant one, I think, I was barely conscious when they were loading me… One thing led to another and the Prince ordered the ghetto to be liquidated to cover up my existence, explaining it away as chemical weaponry." She explained, giving X the extremely abridged version of the story.

"That's why they brought improvised bombers and artillery…"

She nodded softly at him as another pair of metal footfalls sounded through the brush.

X hissed under his breath and activated his buster. "Listen, sorry about this but we can talk about the more… Personal, stuff later." He stated as he quickly cuffed her before Zero saw.

C2 nodded, knowing that the issue of them dating would've come up sooner or later.

"Hey X! She online yet?" Zero shouted as the red armored hunter walked up and out of the brush.

"Yeah, she's online, how'd the recon go?" He inquired.

The other Hunter sighed.

"No good, we're not on Shikane anymore, and our comms are still down thanks to whatever the hell nearly fried our circuits back there anyways so we can't call for extraction… Which begs the question… _How_ did we get here, most Reploids don't float under normal circumstances since we lack the natural buoyancy humans have… Plus a lot of the vegetation is the same as on Shikane, so we might just be over the horizon from them, or it could be visible from the Island's other side." Zero explained. "So clearly someone _sent_ us to this location."

The other two Reploids glanced at eachother in realization that their sudden appearance on the island may not have been by chance at all.

"That begs the question… Why here?" X whispered softly.

* * *

="The vegetation and climate are the same as on Shikane Island…"= Lelouch observed as he scouted around as well. ="We can't be _that_ far from it."= He noted as a result.

That left him with a major issue.

The Black Knights had _one_ vessel capable of reaching him without being noticed, Britannia didn't have that issue and they had an entire _fleet_ based in Yokosuka, in addition to VTOL transports of course.

Not to mention that flying warship and the flotilla that brought Euphie and Suzaku to Shikane...

 _"Damnit... This is more complicated than I'd like..."_

* * *

Suzaku trudged towards a waterfall. "There's no way to contact anyone without an incom… But what's more important is to find a source of drinkable water and shelter…" He muttered to himself.

Coming up on the waterfall he spotted one of the _last_ things he expected to see on the Island, another human being, specifically a redheaded girl bathing in the waterfall, a pilot suit and Black Knights service uniform jacket lying on a rock next to her, just outside of his view.

" _That couldn't be Kallen… Could it?"_ He wondered, noting the identical hair color to his friend.

"Excuse me?" He said, announcing his presence.

Kallen turned to look at him. "Suzaku…?" She immediately realized the current situation and grabbed her uniform jacket to cover herself.

Suzaku's eyes widened, not at the fact she was naked, as the military had co-ed showers for numbers even in the settlements due to a deliberate lack of expanded facilities, but because of the _jacket_ itself. "A Black Knight uniform?! You mean you're a-"

Kallen, eyes widening as she realized her mistake, grabbed her switchblade and extended the knife before letting out a battle cry and charging.

Suzaku just stood there, confused. "I don't believe it… It's really you?" He asked aloud before realizing what was going on and reacting on instinct, grabbing Kallen's arm and using her momentum against her as Todoh had taught him many years ago, her battle cry turning into one of confusion and shock.

She hit the ground roughly, her jacket flying off to the side as Suzaku pinned her, a furious glare on his face.

And for the first time, she understood _true_ fear outside of battle, knowing that Suzaku absolutely _despised_ the Black Knights.

" _Is he going to kill me?!"_ She thought, terrified.

"Kallen Stadtfeld…" He snarled. "I don't believe this, you're actually-"

"Don't call me by that name!" She snarled, quickly forgetting her terror in her anger. "Kallen Kozuki's my real name!" The girl stated angrily. "I'm Japanese!"

Suzaku blinked in shock. "You're a hafu?!" He gasped as he spotted the faintly visible Japanese features on her face. "Then you really are…"

"Yes, I'm a Black Knight got it! I'm not going to hide that anymore." She snapped at him.

Suzaku's face hardened again. "Well then Kallen _Kozuki_ , in the name of his Majesty the Emperor, I'm placing you under arrest." He declared. "On the charges of high treason and conspiracy to commit rebellion against Britannia! You understand what the punishment for such offenses are correct?"

The vehement look in her eyes told him all he needed to know about what she thought of that.

But, he saw the fear swimming in them as well.

* * *

Lelouch clicked his tongue as he continued hiking around the shoreline, knowing his reluctance to exercise had truly come to bite him in the ass this time. _"Contacting Ohgi and the others is going to be a chore… Although… I suppose I could pass myself off as an ordinary person who got stranded while boating and ask the Britannian forces to rescue me, I have enough backups of the outfit to afford losing one."_ He thought before noticing he wasn't alone.

Turning quickly, he spotted a drenched Euphemia standing on the beach below, blinking at him.

* * *

Zero swiped his saber through the brush as he led their little expedition.

"Zero, do you even know where we're going?" X asked in exasperation as he led a cuffed C2 along.

"I just… Have a feeling…" He mumbled softly as he slashed through a stand of trees, revealing a hidden door, large enough to accommodate a main battle tank.

C2 blinked at it. "How long as _this_ been here?"

"Dunno… Whatever it is it's not anything I'm familiar with… Tech's too old and advanced to be First Pacific War vintage either…" Zero whispered softly as he searched for a way to open it before finding a hidden panel on the side of the rock face and pressing down on it.

The entire area seemed to shake as the immense steel doors opened, the faded skull logo going unnoticed as they ground to a halt as the motors failed, leaving just enough room for the three to squeeze through the gap in single file.

Zero took a tentative step inside, followed by X and C2.

The green armored Reploid's foot hit something in the darkness and her eyes lit up, bathing her field of view in a glow as X and Zero also activated the lamps built into their irises.

Discarded all around were the corroded hulks of several identical combat robots she didn't recognize, their monoeyes dim and cobwebs being laced between them and their surroundings.

A shiver traveled through her frame as she stared at the fate of this installation's occupants, whom had likely stood sentry until their systems gave out over the course of years or even decades, never to see anyone from the outside again.

X too looked excessively unnerved by this. "What the hell is this place…" He whispered as Zero traveled further inwards, followed by the other two, whom didn't wish to be left alone in a place like this.

Behind them, one by one the Sniper Joes turned on as their solar collectors picked up charge and brought their reactors back online, monoeyes tracking over to watch the three walk into the darkness.

[INTRUDER ALERT.]

* * *

Suzaku placed Kallen's jacket back over the girl's shoulders after she'd been re-dressed and her arms bound by her headband, the waterfall continuing to rush down nearby.

"I see, then you don't know what happened either…" He said, now slightly annoyed but reassured by the fact he wasn't alone in the metaphorical boat. "When you came to, you found yourself alone on this Island, is that right?" He asked her.

She chuckled darkly. "So then you're stranded here too huh? Serves you right." She said smugly. "When my people get here, _you're_ the one who'll be prisoner then."

"And if the Royal Navy arrives first? You guys didn't hit any of the MPAs or fuel storage at Shikane, it'll be a relatively simple task for them to launch aircraft to scan the surrounding islands if you're right about us not being that far from there, plus there were four warships, including an assault ship, in that flotilla that brought me there." He noted. "Well, if Zero really does arrive first, then tell me one thing before he does… Who is he really?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself?" She retorted.

"Oh, I see, you don't know either then." Suzaku replied, Kallen having fallen straight for the bait.

Kallen's eyes widened in shock. "How did…"

"I knew it." He replied.

"You tricked me?" She asked incredulously.

"Isn't masking one's identity a bigger fraud?" He replied to her statement. "I'm curious, why do you follow Zero?"

"I dunno, figure it out for yourself." She taunted him.

* * *

Lelouch pulled out his sidearm and aimed it at Euphie, having taken the weapon back from Suzaku.

Euphemia stood firm and unflinching in response.

And then the last possible words he'd expected came out of her mouth. "Lelouch… Lelouch, it's you isn't it?" She asked him.

" _What?! How?!"_ He thought as sweat began to roll down his face. _"No, it couldn't have been as far back as Lake Kawaguchi… Could it?!"_

"I haven't told anyone about you I swear." She promised as he began to tremble slightly. "So please… Before you shoot… Let me at least see your face"

Lelouch sighed, knowing that the gun's magnetic propulsion coil was fried and would need replacement anyways due to water damage and moved the weapon to his left hand before reaching up to his mask and grabbing it by the precise points that were required to unlock it.

The mechanism raised up the rear half of the garment with a click before he removed it, leaving the cloth undermask which he pulled down as well.

Tears welled up in Euphie's eyes as she saw the face of her very much alive half-brother for the first time in eight years.

He turned his head to look at her with an even expression on his face, knowing that if she had figured it out based on a subtle hint, then it was possible that Cornelia, Schneizel and even _Suzaku_ of all people might not be far behind.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shikane Island, Area 11.**

["Underground probe radar team, move from section D to section F."] A controller ordered as Britannian troops scrambled about the ambush site and the island itself, P-2 Poseidon and P-3 Orion maritime patrol planes rumbling overhead as they searched the surrounding sea and Islands in unison with SV-2 Sea Sprite, UV-1 Iroquois, CV-46 Sea Knight and SV-3 Sea King VTOLs, Portmans, and patrol boats.

["Establish a five second silent interval…"] A second controller ordered as Fayer grew impatient.

"Find her!" The man barked at the troops. "Whatever it takes, find Princess Euphemia."

An M59 APC rumbled past him as he sighed. "Why couldn't she behave the way a sub-viceroy is expected to…" The man grumbled, knowing that Cornelia would have nobody to pin the blame on but a few men who'd let her get past them to a Knightmare she wasn't even supposed to _know_ how to operate. "What a situation, if Princess Cornelia hears about this…"

Not far from shore, the _Avalon_ and _Morgan le Fay_ hovered just off the surface of the water, both ships docked to facilitate meetings between their respective commanders.

* * *

"Oh my! Who would've imagined a flying warship!" Lloyd said as he inspected the Avalon's hangar, noting that it was optimized for VTOL craft rather than fixed wing machines. "You told me to gather data before practical application correct?" He told someone as he walked over to the Knightmare transport tug that the Lancelot had been loaded onto.

"It's because I'm extremely interested in whatever you create." The Second Prince said as he walked out of the shadows after Lloyd, with Liath in lockstep next to him. "I needed to see if this could be made real."

"And Repliforce already has a decently sized air flotilla does it not?" Asplund replied with a smarmy gin.

 **="That they do."=** Liath noted.

"And what about the Hadron cannon?" Lloyd inquired, glancing over at the Gawain in its docking rack.

"We wanted to see if it would work, Liath simply jumped the gun, as our initial intent was to utilize the ones mounted on the Gawain for such a task." Schneizel said calmly before glancing up at Cecile, whom was working on uncovering what had happened to Suzaku and Zero from the Lancelot's data recorder, one of the few times she was thankful Lloyd had never replaced it with an ejection module.

"I've been looking forward to meeting you Miss Cecile Croomy." The Prince stated to her. "I am-"

"Prince Schneizel, right here?!" She squeaked, shocked that the Second Prince was present in the same room as her.

 **="She did not have that reaction to me."=** Liath noted dryly.

"Well that's because she _fainted_ in terror when you stepped into the room for the first time." Lloyd stated with his usual smugness.

Liath simply chuckled in reply.

"You impudent little! How dare you look down upon the Second Prince of the Empire!" Bartley snarled as he rushed over.

"G... General Bartley!?" Cecile gasped as she stood up before stumbling and then falling off the ladder of the transport tug, dropping her computer in the process.

"Nice one…" Lloyd sighed.

Schneizel walked over to a groaning Cecile and offered his hand to her. "You're not injured I hope?" He asked her. "Yes, I am Prince Schneizel el Britannia. Please, give me your hand." The man stated calmly, unperturbed by her reactions.

He gently helped Cecile up. "Uh, yes…"

"Ugh… She's unworthy." Bartley muttered queasily.

Liath stayed her tongue, and a sharp gesture towards Lloyd from her caused him to change the subject of what he was about to say.

"General, you're quite the devoted subject, aren't you…?" Lloyd inquired as Liath turned her head at them, the black visor of her mask glinting dangerously as the rather hefty General recoiled away from her nervously.

"Primarily because the Prince is the one who commuted my sentence and saved me from being chained up deep beneath Temple Tower…" He replied. "Or worse, left to the Executrix's tender mercies…"

 **="Of which I have few."=** The woman remarked candidly, causing even Lloyd to shudder at her casual tone.

"I wish you'd stop thinking of me so formally. You've been a great help to me in this current matter." He said to Bartley in his usual calm and self-assured manner. "As you were to my brother Clovis. It is _I_ who am grateful to you."

"M… My lord!" Bartley gasped in shock. _"And to think, he would be interested in the_ original _aspect of Code R as well… Perhaps_ more _so than the Reploid development program it became."_ The General thought.

"Please, Bartley." He requested of him before turning back to Cecile. "Now, my lady Cecile, if you'll excuse me." He said before giving her a kiss on the hand, leaving her flustered and blushing.

"Y… Your Highness!"

"Farewell" He said as he walked out of the hangar.

"You can wait for me at the base Cecile!" Lloyd remarked to her.

"Huh? Where are you going?" A now confused Cecile inquired.

"Just a little errand!" Lloyd replied as he turned and walked out with the other three, the Executrix heading back over to the _le Fay_. "While I'm doing that I'll be using the _Avalon_ to help look for Suzaku and Princess Euphemia. It's hard to find Devicers like that young man, especially after yesterday's exploits, and of course Princess Cornelia will have my head if I don't put some effort into searching for her beloved sister."

Cecile gasped in shock. "Please wait! Were those orders yesterday issued by the Prince!?" She asked.

"Silence!" Bartley barked at her. "You don't want to be in contempt of Royalty, do you?!"

Schneizel stopped as Liath glanced over at him. "Those orders were mine Miss Cecile, I had intended to fire the Gawain's Hadron cannons if the missile strike failed, but the Executrix intervened, and her authority supersedes my own in every respect. Even in a situation like that, priorities mustn't be forgotten, while losing Suzaku and Euphemia in addition to those two Maverick Hunters, X and Zero, would've been a heavy price to pay, destroying the 'other' Zero and no less than three of his most important assets, the mysterious Reploid provisionally designated Q2, The Guren Mark Two, and Kyoshiro Todoh, would've been worth it." The Prince stated heavily. "Besides, if something anomalous happened we would still have been able to rescue him, that's what I gambled on."

"He is, after all, Suzaku Kururugi, ace pilot of the Special Corps and Euphie's Knight." Schneizel finished.

"Yes, my lord, I understand now. And I sorely regret my rudeness." Cecile replied, acknowledging the facts that the Prince had done what he'd deemed was most necessary to ensure the Empire's continued prosperity. "I accept any punishment you decree."

"Nonsense" Schneizel said calmly. "It's my fault for not adequately protecting my subordinates by making better preparations in the event of an attack. Can you ever forgive me?" He asked as he turned and resumed his departure from the hangar, leaving Cecile alone with the Knightmares.

* * *

 **Kamine Island, Pacific Ocean.**

"When did you figure it out?" Lelouch asked as Euphie's clothes laid out to dry, his cloak offering her some modicum of modesty while he sat on the other side of the rock they both rested against.

"Back during the hotel jacking." She clarified.

"I see…" He murmured, having expected as much. _"So… My suspicion was correct."_

"At that time I said too much without thinking." He admitted.

"Still… I wasn't convinced until now." Euphie admitted in turn.

Lelouch huffed. "I'm naïve as well then. Even so, why didn't you discuss this with Cornelia?"

"I didn't because my sister _never_ listens to me, you know _exactly_ how prideful she gets and that translates into refusing the possibility she could ever be wrong." Euphie stated sadly. "Besides that, I think things are depressing enough as they are."

There was a short pause before Euphie spoke again. "Nunnally…? How is she?"

"She's living with me." Lelouch replied flatly. "But she's still blind and crippled, even current Reploid derived prostheses are unlikely to work given the extent of the nerve damage she's suffered and how long it's been since..." He trailed off, Euphie well aware of what he meant.

"The hatred you must feel for us…" Euphie murmured. Remembering how everyone had stood idly by while the Emperor exiled Lelouch for daring to question his actions.

"I only wish to know one thing… Do you know anything about the circumstance in which my mother was murdered?" He inquired.

"Only that my sister was upset when she found out, the morning after I overheard her blaming herself for listening to the Empress when she ordered that the guard be withdrawn that night." Euphie replied, causing Lelouch's eyes to widen in shock. "Cornelia thought highly of lady Marianne and really looked up to her…"

" _I see… This makes things more complicated, implying that my mother had implicitly trusted the individual she was meeting… Could Liath be responsible given the timing of her appearance? Or was it someone else...?"_ He wondered as he looked back up at the seagulls, his only real answer so far had left him with _more_ questions than he'd started with. And it left him even _more_ intent on getting answers out of Cornelia and Schneizel.

"May I ask you something now?" Euphie inquired.

Lelouch glanced over at her around the rock.

"Are you Zero… Or… Or are you…"

"I'm Lelouch." He said to assuage her fears, as he wasn't wearing the mask, nor had he any inclination to act in the role of revolutionary for the moment. "Yeah… Right here and now I'm Lelouch. The brother that you know Euphie."

Tears began to roll down her face, the girl wiping them off. "Oh Lelouch." She said, weeping tears of joy that even if but for a short time, someone she'd thought lost to her had come back.

Then her stomach growled, the girl blushing. "I believe feeling relieved has made me hungry…" She admitted sheepishly.

* * *

Shortly, Lelouch had led her inland, digging with a large log he'd found.

"Are you sure this'll work?" Euphie asked, holding his cloak so it didn't get dirty.

"Based on the paw prints and droppings, wild animals use this trail…" He said before grunting. "So, I'm setting up a trap that dates back to-" He grunted again as he struggled to dig into the ground properly. "Medieval times!"

"Oh…"

* * *

Elsewhere, Suzaku caught a rather sizable fish in his hands. "Ha ha!" He chuckled.

"Oh wow! You're not bad at that!" Kallen said in amazement as he tossed the fish over to her.

"Do you wanna try it too?" He asked. "I tell ya what. I'll let you loose if you promise to help me find food. Is that a deal?"

Kallen looked away slightly. "Hmph. You're not gonna win me over, so why try? What do you even take me for anyways? Besides! I'm not stripping down in front of you either!" The girl snapped while pouting angrily.

"Man, you're stubborn, you're nothing like the way you are at school." He chuckled nervously.

* * *

C2, Zero, and X walked deeper into the structure before stopping at a split path.

"X, you take the right and go with the prisoner, I'll head to the left." The red-armored Hunter stated.

"Wait what?! Splitting up can't possibly end well, what about traps!?" C2 stated in dismay.

Zero simply chuckled and walked off. "I'm an S-Rank Hunter, there's not much that can take me down." He said as he vanished into the darkness.

X frowned pensively. "Come on you…" He said as he released her cuffs, letting her move her arms for the first time in a while.

"Why…?"

"Because I have a bad feeling about this place…" He replied as he walked down the left-hand hallway.

C2 glanced about and shivered before squealing and following X after hearing a clatter, her metallic footfalls fading into the dark as well.

Shortly thereafter a disabled laser cannon turret fell from the ceiling after failing to properly deploy and then breaking off its rusted mountings.

A faded 'W' symbol was barely visible on its side.

* * *

"So… About what you wanted to talk about earlier…" She asked.

"Us… Was that part of Zero's orders?" He asked, not being able to keep the heat out of his voice.

"No…" C2 replied softly. "That was real… All of it…"

X flushed red in embarrassment, having made himself look like an arrogant ass in front of someone who had genuine feelings for him.

"I'm sorry for…" He said as he stopped and turn to look at her.

C2 had raised her buster, causing X to react in kind towards her.

A single shot rang out before his weapon could be aimed. X opening his eyes to find himself totally intact.

Turning he saw what had been shot. An old Dachone walking cannon robot slumping back to the ground with a smoking hole in its optic sensor, the glow of its triple barreled laser cannon fading.

"So… About those traps I mentioned…" She snarked dryly.

X gulped nervously, not just at the fact there were still operational machines in this facility, but also at the 'W' symbol on the Dachone's side. "It just had to be a Wily base… Didn't it…" He grumbled, remembering some of the 'historical' scenarios involving the mad doctor and the horror stories from the Hunter Teams sent to clear out those bases of his that had been occasionally discovered every so often.

* * *

Lelouch panted as he finally gave out, unable to continue digging his pit trap. _"I never thought I'd truly rue the days where I skipped PE again…"_ He thought as he looked at the pathetic dip that was his attempt at the trap. "Even using… A lever…"

"Why don't you let me help you with that?" Euphie asked, somewhat worried about him.

"Manual… Labor… Isn't for… a… Royal Princess…" He gasped, utterly exhausted by his exertions.

" _Suzaku probably wouldn't've even broken a sweat doing this."_ He thought dryly. "Don't worry… My method's perfect…" He claimed.

"Well I suppose… I could go look and search for something… Like fruit! Okay?" Euphie realized, dashing off to do so.

"Be careful Euphie…" Lelouch told her between gasps.

"Right." The girl said with a giggle as she headed off.

* * *

 **September 27, 2017 ATB.**

 **Pacific Ocean near Shikane Island.**

The _Avalon_ and _Morgan le Fay_ rumbled over the sea in formation, their immense and forboding forms soaring through the air like a mated pair of some kind of vast, predatory bird.

* * *

Deep beneath the waves, the _Isaribi_ hid, idling in a canyon to evade sonar detection and using a bouy camera to observe the surface.

["Enemy warships have passed over us."] The sensor tech reported over the intercom after a few tense moments, causing the Black Knights to exhale in relief.

"You've gotta be kidding, warships that hover in mid-air?" Tamaki asked sarcastically. "Well that's just _great_."

"We can't remain in this area any longer." Todoh stated to Ohgi. "The risk is just too significant, we should pull out before we're detected, especially since they're undoubtedly moving more frigates and destroyers in to aid the search."

Ohgi hummed in acknowledgment.

"Ohgi. I disagree" Diethard stated. "We ought to at least stay put and search for Zero."

"He has a point as well…" Ohgi admitted.

"But we can't just send out a search party in this situation, if we try and surface we'll be detected." Todoh countered. "Even though we're able to hide thanks to Rakshata's design work on the sub combined with the Gefjun disturbers blocking their ability to detect the buoy with radar. There's no guarantee Zero, Q2, and Kallen are still alive."

"One wrong step and we threaten the very existence of this organization, what with most of our central command being aboard this sub." He concluded.

"What do you mean?!" Diethard questioned. "It's _entirely_ the other way around!" He said heatedly. "This entire organization is _built_ around Zero! And while he may be a symbol, we don't have anyone near capable of replacing him!" The man noted.

"It's not a group without members!" Todoh retorted. "The way you speak makes you sound like a typical Britannian to me."

Diethard growled angrily as Shirley ducked down towards her food, not used to the heated nature of such an argument. "Alright then, answer me this, who else could _possibly_ have gotten such disparate groups of people of such wildly varied ideologies to cooperate together?! We have followers of almost every ideology under the sun from ultranationalist Japanese and anarcho-communists to pro-democratic Britannians who wish to end the rule of the crown over their homeland under our flag! Do you think that results keeps us from tearing into eachother's throats and has us all cooperating towards the same goal?! And if so, tell me who _got_ us those results!?" The man snapped at Todoh.

Todoh slammed his fist against his table. "I'll be the _first_ to admit that he does!" The colonel replied heatedly. "But is he worth the lives of _everyone_?"

"At times, the life or death of a _single_ man can decide the fate of **millions**." Diethard remarked. "I thought that would be _common sense_ to a _soldier_!"

"You _dare_ say that here?!" Todoh snarled in reply as he slammed a fist on the table.

"Easy guys…" Ohgi said in an attempt to placate them.

And then Nemo strode into the room. "Oh alright then, I'll tell you idiots what happened to him if it keeps you from killing eachother." She snarked as she stood at the head of the mess hall. "He's very much _alive_." She stated.

"We have no time for your wishful thinking." Todoh remarked.

"The information's true, I simply _know_ it." She replied as she turned towards the close wall of the room. " _How_ I know is simply beyond your comprehension Colonel."

Tamaki chose that moment to open his mouth. "Oh so you're an oracle now?!" He growled before aiming his spoon at her. "I told you to shut your trap and to get some training on a Knightmare you dumbass!"

Nemo whirled around to face him. "Dumbass? Maybe you should take your own advice, you seem to have the usefulness of a _fruit fly_ whenever someone more competent than the average ground squirrel is your opponent. About the same lifespan too were it not for your prolific luck and the fact that Kururugi doesn't kill if he doesn't have to." Nemo remarked dryly, earning several chuckles from the peanut gallery.

"Like Zero's _mistress_ has any right to get uppity with us!" Tamaki snarled at her.

Nemo narrowed her eyes dangerously, setting off warning bells in the back of Ohgi's mind as he instinctively realized he was looking into the eyes of someone _beyond_ a mere mortal human.

"I've already told you, you're an _idiot_ for suggesting that Zero has any spare time to consider devoting to women. You're a man who _only_ has vulgar ideas." Nemo said, unrestrained venom oozing from her tone.

Tamaki shot to his feet. "You've got a lot of nerve talking to your superior like that!" He yelled furiously.

"I'm one of Zero's _closest_ confidants, I outrank _all_ of you. **Regardless** of your position." Nemo stated cryptically, unnerving Ohgi, Diethard and Todoh deeply.

"Look! This whole conversation has gotten out of hand." Ohgi said finally, trying to de-escalate the situation. "Okay, how about this, we hand in a safe zone, an ocean area just outside their search box, where we can wait until the end of tomorrow." He proposed before looking at Todoh. "How does that sound for a time limit?" He asked.

"All right." Todoh conceded.

"Well, I suppose we have no other choice." Diethard admitted as well.

The mess hall devolved into idle chatter as Nemo took her leave.

* * *

Outside she sighed as she walked down a corridor.

"For heaven's sake… I was force to engage with that blithering idiot thanks to your silly little insistence on this having to happen." She grumbled, referring to Tamaki.

There was a brief pause as she stopped. "You sent Kallen, C2 and those two Maverick Hunters to the Island as well?"

She sighed and leaned against the wall. "You have _very_ poor taste for being such an imperious observer."

* * *

 **Kamine Island, Pacific Ocean.**

"What's wrong? They're quite tasty!" Euphie stated as a rather dour looking Lelouch stared at the fruit she'd gathered. "I'm sure you'll be able to make your pitfall trap tomorrow…" She assured him.

Lelouch simply kept staring at the fruit.

* * *

"Boy am I stuffed!" Kallen sighed as she leaned back. "I don't think I could eat another bite…"

"So… Is this a glimpse what you're really like?" Suzaku asked as he prepared to take another bite of his own fish.

"Yeah so, ya wanna making something of it?"

"No, I think it's charming to see you being so much livelier than you are at school." He replied, causing Kallen to blush.

Suzaku's expression became much more somber as the fire crackled ominously. "Kallen… Leave the Black Knights…" He warned her. "It's not too late. A captured terrorist, especially one taken by Britannia, never winds up with a happy ending."

"I thought you weren't so bad, and _then_ you go and show your true colors." She retorted somewhat angrily. "Well that won't work." She said as she sat up proudly. "I happen to be the Captain of Zero's _Elite Guard_. And in fact I've fought you multiple times in Knightmare combat!" She declared.

"I see, so the red ones I've fought since Shinjuku… All of those have been you?" He inquired.

"Yeah." She replied, not letting her pride fall. "And even if I lose my life doing it, I'll beat that Knightmare of yours someday!" She promised.

Suzaku closed his eyes, remembering Zero's statement about not throwing away his own life. "The irony, Zero told me earlier that I shouldn't just throw my life away for something stupid… And yet here's the captain of his own Elite Guard, promising to do just _that_ over her wounded pride… This is just proof that using his methods offer no future…" Suzaku remarked, causing Kallen's eyes to widen.

"And what about your future then!?" She demanded angrily. "To just live the life of a conqueror's subjugated lapdog!? An Honorary Britannian?! Or better yet, the Knight of some Third Princess who's in so far over her head politically she's below the crush depth of a submarine?! I'm not stupid Suzaku, I know how Britannian politics work and Euphemia's just going to get burned!" Kallen snapped at him. "The name of Genbu Kururugi, the last samurai, weeps at his son's stupidity!" She declared. "I'm not you! The world is wrong! And I'm trying to change it. If I don't… If I don't my brother's death will have been for nothing…" She whispered softly as she trailed off at the end. "That's my reason for fighting, and I'll do _whatever_ it takes to win!"

"Kallen… The truth is… I killed my father…"

Kallen blinked in shock at this revelation as the fire crackled forbodingly.

"My father didn't commit suicide… I took his life."

Suzaku's eyes took on some kind of haze that left Kallen seriously unnerved. "Why…?" She whispered softly.

"Why? Because he was a _traitor_ , don't you find it strange how that even with Reploids and Knightmares that Britannia suffered so few casualties?" Suzaku asked her. "There were a few hundred or so, maybe a couple thousand at worst, most of them from Itsukushima. The rest were inevitably the result of bad luck, accidents, and the occasional suicide." He stated.

"Yeah so what, how does that make Genbu Kururugi a traitor!?"

"Because he _sold_ Japan out, he saw that there was no stopping Britannia, so he freely gave every bit of classified military and topographical intel he could find, every weapon and strategy or tactic Japan could use against Britannia had over the course of several months had become useless or it's effects mitigated to just about that point. All for a promise he'd be among Area 11's nobility when the hammer dropped." He said calmly. "And when I found out what he'd done… I killed him, with this hand…" He stated, staring at his right hand. "It was so easy too, thanks to Todoh's kendo training. Funny thing too, since Todoh and Kirihara covered it up… My father had been dead for a full _month_ prior to the shooting starting. Not like the changes they made to our battle plans mattered much..."

Kallen stared at him in horror, unable to bring herself to speak.

* * *

X and C2 marched through the dusty halls of the Wily lab, looking for anything of value. "How long have we been down here?" She asked as she glanced about, her gaze sweeping light over long abandoned computer banks and empty filing cabinets.

C2 opened one of the cabinets and pulled out a hard drive marked 'Memoirs draft 7412'.

"Let's see…" She hummed as she hooked it up to her systems, hoping that it would have some answers to her past.

Immediately she was graced by an image of Doctor Albert Wily in her field of view.

["Ugh, Wily's Memoirs draft…"] He looked at his notes intently, trying to glean the number on the paper. ["7412... I can't believe I've gone through this many drafts… Anyways, in this episode I will be talking about those idealistic fools Noelle Lalinde and Thomas Light."] The old man grumbled somewhat irately.

C2 immediately was at rapt attention, catching X's eye as he noticed her stiffen.

["A few years back there were a bunch of Luddite fools who attacked the Advanced Robotics Trade Show, or… ARTS for short… I personally would've chosen Roboexpo as a catchier name."]

C2 groaned as Wily ranted for a bit about trivial matters.

["And whoever thought that using classical '50s design with the TV screen face was a good idea for a _security_ robot…"]

["Doctor, while you raise great points, we've spent ten minutes on your ranting."]

Wily looked flustered. ["Why didn't you say something you fool!"] He shouted angrily at whoever was running the camera.

["Because I don't want to have you tamper with my systems out of anger…"]

["Ah right, speaking of tampering with systems, according to security footage at the trade show, Dr Lalinde revealed to Thomas and Mikhail Cossack, another old colleague of mine, that she deleted Quake Woman's emotions, I mean, why even go through the process of making your creation have emotions if you just remove them for some inane reason!? My robots have a severe level of sass but you don't see me removing that!"] He snapped before going on another tirade, once again off track from the story he had been trying to tell.

C2 simply stood there in absolute shock, her mental image of her creator, her _mother_ , crumbling. _"She… Removed my older sister's emotions… But… Why…? Was this before or_ after _I was built… Did she return them… Are…"_

She shut down the file and staggered back, now seriously confused. _"Are my memories… False…? A result of an overactive imagination…? A desire to have a good purpose in a world that's full of cruelty…?"_ She honestly didn't know what to believe, and the Zero virus exploited the opening to the _fullest_ , planting further seeds of doubt in her mind.

She felt a hand on her shoulder as X looked at her with some worry. "C2? Is something wrong?" He asked, having been trying to get her attention for some time.

C2 backed away from him as the Zero virus cackled out from the depths of her thought processes, having decided to take a more patient and rewarding route rather than brute forcing her into agreeing with it.

"C2…? Are you okay…?" X asked, now genuinely concerned as she turned and ran out of the room, tears running down her face. "C2!" He called out, chasing after her, whatever he was originally planning to talk to her about forgotten.

Behind them, the eyes of the Sniper Joes glowed ominously as they stopped and processed the situation before following.

* * *

"The stars haven't changed have they?" Euphie asked as she laid on the beach. "They were the same back then, and they're the same now… Remember how we used to lay out and gaze up at the stars together so long ago?" She smiled softly. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could live like that again?" She asked him. "I'd be so happy then."

Lelouch remained silent, knowing those days were forever gone.

"Can't we go back to that? Is it wrong to want that?"

"Yes, you're right, it would be so good to just go back to how things were… But we were mere children living on an island of peace in a sea of vipers… When we got older things would change rapidly, I have no doubt that nobles and siblings of our who were... less than pleased... By my mother's pedigree would begin launching ever bolder assassination attempts on Nunnally and myself…" He stated. "Our peace wouldn't have lasted for much longer really…"

"I suppose you're right…" Euphie conceded. "Still, is it wrong Lelouch? To desire happiness?"

"No… It's not…" He admitted in turn.

* * *

"Zero is a lot like my father, he firmly believes that the world revolves around him and his desires… That's why he's able to justify spilling the blood of so many people-" Suzaku said before Kallen cut him off, finally having found her voice again.

"And that's why you just accept the way things are now?! You call _that_ peace!?" She demanded angrily. "Some things are more important than your life you know! By acting so selfishly you're no different from they are then!" Kallen snapped, causing him to recoil, knowing that she might be correct.

"It isn't that I _want_ you to give up, a peaceful world is always a cause worth fighting for… It's that the _ends_ Zero wants don't justify the _means_ he's using to get to them. There's a rumor spreading among the Britannian forces that Zero has some kind of mind control power, and that he's used it on Jeremiah Gottwald among others." Suzaku stated.

That left Kallen reeling. "What kind of crap is that!? Mind control? Don't make me laugh!" She scoffed as she looked at Suzaku like he was crazy

"Alright, then you explain why Jeremiah Gottwald suddenly conceded to Zero's demands for no reason that night." He asked her. "I know you're not stupid Kallen, I'm trying to get you to _think_ harder about what you're doing and who you're fighting for."

Kallen promptly shut up. She herself had found the whole thing questionable, but at the time she'd been too elated about not dying to care.

"I just want you to ask yourself… Is what you're fighting for worth the price you're paying to get to it? For example, Kallen, the primary weapon your Knightmare is using is considered as proscribed under international law for causing undue _suffering_ as a key facet of its design by _boiling people alive_ , every time you use it against a human being or a Reploid you're solidifying a case to be made that both you and Zero are _war criminals_. When you gain results in a way like this… Are they even worth it? Or are you just left with a deep emptiness and dark regrets, wondering if there wasn't a better way to do things?" He asked, his face hardened and his eyes sad.

Kallen fell to her side, using her folded up jacket as an improvised pillow.

"Then explain something to me… What higher purpose did my brother's death serve…? He died, shot by Mavericks while trying to bargain for supplies from them when the Maverick Hunters raided the warehouse he was in. He was caught in the crossfire of _someone else's_ fight." She told him, tears welling in her eyes. "Who gets to sit in judgment and declare which side is guiltier when innocents die? Who decides whether it's right or wrong? The winners? The losers? Those standing on the sidelines? The people who look back on it all through the tinted and distorted lens of history and can't possibly comprehend the choices we have to make? The armchair commentators on the internet or news who spew their opinions off with barely any thought to their words? Who Suzaku...? **Who** has that right…?" She asked, her voice cracking as she started to cry.

Suzaku lowered his head and looked away, for he had no answer for her.

* * *

X finally caught up to C2 halfway down the hall. "C2… What was that back there…" He asked her.

"I watched a memoir of Doctor Wily's… He said… That Doctor Lalinde wiped the emotions from my elder sister… Quake Woman…" She whispered softly.

X furrowed his brow. "Was there any context…? I've always known Doctor Light and Doctor Lalinde didn't exactly see eye to eye sometimes but surely there was a reason she'd do that."

C2 shook her head. "X… Even Wily refused to wipe the emotions of the machines he built, for him it was a matter of pride… He built _war machines_ and he didn't even stoop to that." She replied, her voice quaking. "Even if there _was_ context behind that… She'd probably do the same to me… All I'm good for now is destruction and killing…"

X frowned at her and pulled her close to him, noting again with some mild embarrassment that she was slightly _taller_ than he was even without considering her 'ear' antennae. "Listen… Trust me… I don't think she'd do that…" He cooed softly, trying to comfort her.

"You don't know that… She'd think I'm a monster for what I've done… All the civilians I've killed..."

X gently rubbed her back armor soothingly. "I'm sure of it, and you're _not_ a monster… Just someone who's trying to make their way in a world I'm not even sure we belong in… You never intended to have to hurt anyone, especially innocent people."

"I wish… I could believe that… I'm just a weapon now..." She whispered under her breath as she nuzzled at his neck plating, tears running down her face as her antenna folded back in a sign of her distress.

"You don't have to be one if you don't want to..." X whispered back, causing her to glance up at him, confused as to why he'd say that.

"TARGETS LOCKED. PREPARING TO ELIMINATE INTRUDERS." A monotone voice droned, catching both off-guard.

The Sniper Joes from the gate stared at them, monoeyes beaming as they raised their arm guns and shields.

"Anyways… I think we have bigger problems…"

C2 nodded and wiped her face clean. "I guess I can mope later…"

"Atta girl." X said with a small grin.

And with that they activated their weapons and lunged towards the outdated robots, which stood no chance against the technologically superior Reploids, especially in their degraded state.

* * *

Euphie slept soundly as Lelouch watched over her, a hand against his chin as he sat there, deep in thought.

" _Euphie, even for me to survive…"_

* * *

" _Even struggling against my shame…"_ Suzaku thought as he watched the stars while Kallen slept. _"I still search for a reason to go on living… I'm a disgrace…"_

He was jolted from his thoughts as he spotted a light flash off of a low cloud in the distance.

" _A spotlight? Must be high powered to do that… Which means it's a_ ship _."_ He realized.

* * *

C2 and X stood among the shattered remains of the Sniper Joes, the degraded metal of the old machines having collapsed under their attacks and left discarded fragments all around.

"Well... That worked out at least..." X sighed as he picked up part of a destroyed assault shield.

"Yeah... It did..." C2 replied as X turned to face her.

"So, what no-" X began before he was cut off by the green-armored Reploid planting a kiss on his lips, muffling what he'd been trying to say.

He blinked in surprise before she pulled away. "Wha..."

She smiled softly. "That's for being just about the only person who's actually cared enough to try and reaffirm that I'm not just a weapon..." She whispered. "You naive idiot..."

X flushed red as she turned around and headed back to the entrance. "Come on... This place is depressing enough."

He nodded and followed after C2, pulling out the handcuffs again as they walked.

She didn't resist, knowing that Zero would start asking questions if she was uncuffed.

* * *

Zero, X and a recuffed C2 emerged from the old base, the doors automatically sealing up behind them.

"Okay… That wasn't creepy at all…" C2 muttered as Zero glanced away from the other two while they looked at the door in concern.

"Hey, Zero… What happened with you… You haven't said a word since we met back up." X noted with some worry.

The red armored hunter just waved him off. "I'm fine, just drop it X." He replied, not giving X any reason to believe him.

X shrugged. "Alright then…"

"Hey… Is that a searchlight?" C2 asked them as she looked up and saw the same light Suzaku and Lelouch had not long before bouncing off a cloud.

"Yeah… It is…" X noted, confirming what she saw.

* * *

"We couldn't find major Kururugi or Euphemia washed ashore on the other Island so clearly we should search here…" Schneizel stated as the _le Fay_ and _Avalon_ sat berthed in a clearing on Kamine island.

"We'll send a search party out in the morning." Bartley replied quickly.

"Hmm… And this must be what you mentioned…?

"Yes." Bartley stated as Lloyd adjusted his glasses. "We uncovered it shortly before the Shinjuku incident occurred."

"Yes, I can see why this would have attracted Clovis's interest. He always did love those stories about fantastical treasures and arcane artifacts being found by chance…" Schneizel hummed softly.

* * *

The sun rose over the West Pacific once again, all three of the stranded groups ambling up towards where they'd seen the searchlight coming from.

"Are you sure you really saw a light?" Kallen asked as she discreetly tried to undo the tie her headband was in around her wrists.

"Yeah, I'm positive." Suzaku replied, none the wiser of her attempts to escape.

* * *

"It must be a search party." Lelouch stated calmly to Euphie as they walked. "Once we know who it is, we'll figure out how to deal with them."

"Deal with them…?" Euphie whispered softly, despite knowing that Lelouch more or less meant negotiate she was still worried.

* * *

Inside the cave Lloyd inspected the door-like structure at the far end. "A thought elevator you say Executrix?" He asked as the woman and her troops stood between Schneizel's men and the structure, having entered overnight while the others had been preparing to move heavy equipment up.

 **="Yes, such a power is beyond human comprehension, that is why I cannot allow you to tamper with it."=** She said flatly at the man.

"Well that's that, I guess we should just go home." Lloyd said with a shrug before being cut off from further remarks by a glare from Bartley.

"I do not wish to tamper with it, just analyze to find out why father and Clovis were so interested in some old legends they'd heard." Schneizel said in his typical calm manner.

Liath hissed under her breath. **="Very well then, but any attempts to do more will result in my troops forcibly disconnecting your equipment."=** She conceded.

Schneizel nodded at her, accepting her terms.

"Wait… What you do mean the Emperor is so interested in these?" Lloyd asked, now wary and confused.

"There are several other structures just like this in the world, except for this one that I discovered, all of them were under direct Imperial control, this is mere speculation on my part, but I suspect this is the _real_ reason why we invaded Japan and so many other nations." Bartley stated aloud as he looked up at the vast doors of the elevator. "And the ones we know of likely aren't the end of them either."

"Ah… And this one just so happened to have been discovered by Clovis." Lloyd realized quickly.

"Yes… And after I was interrogated, the Emperor dispatched the Executrix to secure the site, hence why the cavern entrance is large enough for multiple Knightmares to enter in line abreast, in addition to the other amenities at the landing zone."

"Well I'm afraid archaeology isn't my strong suit, especially this… _Paranormal_ stuff." Lloyd stated dismissively. "I do wish you'd have asked Cecile instead, I'm a man of _science_ , not this mumbo jumbo metaphysical nonsense."

"That's why we brought the Gawain. To utilize its Druid system to scan the relic." Schneizel informed him.

"A-ha, and since the Druid system is rather touchy to say the least, you want my technical expertise to make it work. To more thoroughly scan the occult data…" Lloyd noted in realization.

"Indeed." Bartley confirmed.

"Well, why not just lead with that next time?" Lloyd asked nonchalantly.

There were several groans all around in response.

* * *

"It should be over here…" Lelouch mumbled as he looked around, the two _Avalon_ -class airships and their complements still out of sight for the moment.

"Lelouch, if it is indeed a search party, will our time be over then...?" Euphie asked sadly.

"Yes, it will…" He replied before chuckling. "I'm such an undependable knight, aren't I? I couldn't even capture you any food." He jested.

Euphie smiled softly at him.

"And besides, that's a job reserved for a real Knight… All my disagreements with Suzaku aside… He's probably just about the best choice you could've picked." Lelouch said warmly to her. "Although… Why choose an honorary Britannian…? Your reputation surely nosedived as a result among the more numerous conservative groups in Britannia."

"Well I…" She began before they heard more rustling.

Acting quickly, Lelouch put on his cloak in one fell swoop before rushing Euphie into cover until they were sure who it was.

He put his mask on as he spotted Kallen and Suzaku walking up from the opposite side of the clearing

" _What are those two doing together?"_

It was then he noticed that Kallen wasn't wearing her jacket properly, with both arms behind her back.

" _So… Kallen's been taken prisoner…"_ He thought grimly, noting that she would've stood little chance against Suzaku in CQC even on the latter's worst day.

Then Zero, X, and C2 marched into the clearing as well, the green Reploid clearly handcuffed.

" _Another complication…"_

Euphie broke cover almost immediately. "Suzaku!"

" _Damnit!"_ Lelouch thought, deciding to act quickly while he still held the initiative

"P… Princess Euphemia?" Suzaku stuttered in shock.

="Don't move!"= Zero ordered as he broke cover and pointed his nonfunctional sidearm at Euphie's neck. ="This girl is my prisoner!"=

It hurt Lelouch dearly to do this, but as he was outnumbered three to one he had little choice.

Besides, it's not like the weapon would actually fire if he pulled the trigger.

Of course, _Suzaku_ didn't need to know that.

"Zero…?" Kallen whispered while C2 flinched visibly.

="Just follow my cue."= He assured Euphie with a whisper, the Princess not quite understanding but complying. ="I'll take back my subordinates that you have there! We'll exchange prisoners and then go our separate ways!"= He suggested to Suzaku.

"Zero! Once again you-" Suzaku began as he strode towards Lelouch and Euphie, the former sweating nervously as X and the other Zero glanced at eachother, neither willing to risk the fallout of a Britannian Princess dying because of their rash action, before the blue armored hunter unlocked C2's cuffs, the Reploid heading over to Zero's side after sparing a glance at them, Lelouch noting that her gaze lingered on X for a bit longer than he'd expected, and forcing Suzaku to take a step back by her mere presence.

="Now, hand over Kallen and I'll let Euphemia go over to you."= He promised.

Suzaku glared at him as C2 aimed her buster at the young man.

="Hah, you find my actions cowardly don't you?"= Zero said before chuckling audibly.

C2 rolled her eyes behind her visor, the glare on it preventing Suzaku from seeing. _"Quit hamming it up Lelouch…"_

="Eliminate terrorists no matter what the sacrifice? Do you intend to follow this rule and let your mistress die?"= He questioned as C2 kept both of the Maverick Hunters at bay with her buster cannon. ="In spite of the fact that your integrity has already been broken?"=

As he said that Kallen, having moved her restrained arms to her front, lunged at Suzaku, grabbing him in a reinforced bear hug, the latter struggling but unwilling to hurt the former to escape using his full strength.

"Leave him alone!" Euphie cried out.

"Shut up you royal puppet, you're useless! You can't think for yourself or do anything on your own!" Kallen shouted at her, the Redhead rattling off words as fast as she could think them up, thus her disjointed statement.

C2 resisted the urge to facepalm. Or slap Kallen for that matter.

"WHAT!" Euphie shouted indignantly. "I'm _not_ afraid of you and I don't _care_ what happens to me! Suzaku! I command you to _fight_!"

" _Goddamnit Kallen!"_ Lelouch thought angrily as his hastily thought out plan promptly fell apart. ="Your highness!"=

Suzaku grunted and easily broke free of Kallen's grasp. "With pleasure!" He shouted as he ran at Zero, whom shoved Euphie aside and ran over to another corner of the square, C2 joining him.

="You hardheaded fool!"= He barked, Lelouch honestly not sure if he meant Kallen or Suzaku at this point.

And then the square of stone they were standing on glowed an ominous red, the mark of the collective unconscious visible as a result of an unknown party's manipulations of the Elevator while Liath had been away at Narita with her troops. Lelouch's own Geass flickering in reaction to the phenomenon as images of events he'd witnessed and those he presumed were yet to come flashed by.

And yet, he didn't see C2 or Nemo in _any_ of them.

 _"What the...!?"_

"What in the hell!?" C2 gasped as she reeled back, Zero and X leaping back into the bushes and watching in alarm as the ground collapsed and sank down in that specific spot.

* * *

The thought Elevator glowed the same eerie red as the stone above. Lloyd sweating as the readings went off the scale of the druid system. "Oh… Not good…" He muttered as the rock around him shook violently.

Schneizel simply watched as whatever was going on occurred, while Liath barked orders for the troops to spread out and secure the area, the infantry aiming their weapons at the ceiling.

"My lord please, stand clear!" Bartley pleaded with the Second Prince.

The lone Sutherland in the room backed up as the columns crumbled, the platform from above revealing its occupants as it descended.

"Major Kururugi! Princess Euphemia!" Lloyd gasped in shock at their sudden reappearance.

In the middle of a standoff with Zero and two of his subordinates no less. "And Is that… Zero?!" Lloyd wondered aloud.

 **="Get him!"=** Liath hissed as she saw Zero. = **"I want him alive!"=**

The regulars rushed up onto the platform as Euphie pulled a now insensate Suzaku out of the way.

Zero clicked his tongue as Kallen undid her headband from her arms. "Look Zero! That's a Knightmare over there!" She noted, only seeing the Gawain due to its height.

="Perfect! We'll use that, let's go!"= He ordered. ="Q2, set up a diversion!"=

"Roger." C2 acknowledged a she switched to the Wood Man set and activated the leaf shield, the magnetically controlled leaf shaped pieces of ceratanium blocking the incoming bullets being fired by the Britannian soldiers as Zero clambered into the cockpit, Kallen watching C2's six as the Gawain was powered up.

"Suzaku let's go!" Euphie pleaded to her unresponsive knight.

One man attempted to slip by C2, only to be knocked back by Kallen, whom promptly took his rifle and laid down suppressing fire on the troops across from her, C2 continuing to block incoming shots the Reploid nervously watching the energy meter for the Leaf Shield drop steadily as bullets impacted the metal plates she was controlling.

"Suzaku, what is it… What's wrong?" A now worried Euphie asked him, only to once again get no response from him as he stared off into space.

* * *

Zero checked the controls of the Gawain. ="This is good, not only is it unmanned, but it's activated too!"= He noted as he fiddled with the controls to figure out how it moved due to the unusual setup, unplugging wires and cables that were connected to its Druid system and tossing them out in the process.

* * *

"Form a wall in front of Princess Euphemia! Hurry!" A 501st Soldier ordered as a group of them, outfitted with SMGs and ceratanium armored assault shields rushed up to the platform, roughly shoving the regulars aside and forming a shield wall as they advanced on C2 and Kallen, hoping to separate them enough from Suzaku and Euphie to give their compatriots still at ground level a clear enough line of fire on Kallen and the Reploid.

* * *

Tapping on the controls, Lelouch took in the Gawain's specs. ="What kind of Knightmare is this… A command model…?"= He muttered to himself as the canopy of the Gawain shut over his head. He chuckled excitedly as he realized it _was_ a field command type, outfitted with many examples of the latest field usable tech no less. ="This is my lucky day!"=

And then he spotted Schneizel on the primary monitor, his face contorting in anger.

="Schneizel!"= He snarled, rapidly realizing that his setback yesterday had been largely the second Prince's fault.

* * *

"So that's him… That's Zero?" Schneizel asked as the Gawain began to run.

"Oh no… The Gawain!" Lloyd gasped as he scrambled out of the way.

Above, C2 and Kallen clambered aboard the massive Knightmare as it began to move.

"Stop them now! Get that Machine back, we cannot allow it to fall into Zero's hands at any cost!" Bartly snapped.

 **="Belay that order."=** Liath instructed.

"What?!"

 **="The Gawain is hardly worth getting our men killed over when it's a flawed testbed model, even if they got the Hadron Cannons working it's too complicated and complex for them to operate for extended periods of time… Besides, the newer Galatines and Gareths will outmatch it in every possible way once they're completed and put into production."=** The Executrix noted.

"But!"

 **="But nothing, let them leave the cave, we have… Other methods of taking it down..."=**

"But that's Imperial property, we can't just _destroy_ it!" Bartley protested.

 **="The last I checked, it was the property of the _Zevon family_ … _Not_ the Empire…"=** Liath noted slyly as Schneizel grinned almost imperceptibly.

"I see… Order the _Avalon_ and _Morgan le Fay_ to open fire on the Gawain once it takes off."

* * *

The Gawain exited the cavern as the lone Sutherland inside stood idly by.

"They're letting us go!?" Kallen gasped in shock as they passed the waiting guards.

"They're likely not wasting the troops on us when they've got an overwhelming firepower advantage!" C2 noted, pointing at the two vast shapes sitting outside, the _le Fay's_ ventral fore deck gun swiveling to track them.

"Oh crap!" Kallen whispered as she realized how screwed they were. "Zero!"

[="I'm on it!"=] Lelouch stated and powered on the hadron cannons to cripple or destroy the _Avalon_. [="Disappear!"=]

An immense spray of red and black light issued from the cannons.

While impressive to look at… It accomplished virtually _nothing_ , not even hitting the Sutherlands, Gloucesters and troops milling about outside.

He ripped his mask off in frustration. ["Damnit! The weapons are incomplete!"]

* * *

Back in the cavern Euphie gently shook the still insensate Suzaku as Liath walked up to him.

The sound of the Hadrons firing was enough to wake him out of his funk as he glanced around, finally realizing he was surrounded by friendlies.

 **="You owe me another favor Major…"=** She stated plainly to him as he noticed the Executrix standing near them.

"Owe you…?" He whispered softly. "What do you man your Eminence?"

 **="You'll find out what I mean soon enough."=** Liath chuckled as she glanced down at Schneizel, Lloyd and Bartley.

* * *

"Zero! We're surrounded!" Kallen shouted in dismay as the cordon of Knightmares closed in on them outside the gave.

["Don't worry just yet, another system is operational!"] He chuckled as he activated the float system and began to ascend, keeping the Knightmare at low level to avoid being accurately targeted by the warships, which both sent up sprays of CIWS fire in their direction but failed to connect any shots thanks to the Knightmare's powerful ECM suite.

"We're flying!? This Knightmare is flying!" Kallen gasped in shock.

"I think I'm gonna be sick from the EM frequencies…" C2 groaned as she magnetized herself to the Gawain's frame.

Lelouch, for his part, simply laughed like a maniac, as he now had control of what he assumed to be the most powerful KMF on the planet for the immediate future as the Gawain rocketed off into the distance, heading out to sea.

* * *

"The Gawain! Our beautiful prized Gawain!" Bartley cried out in dismay as he watched it vanish.

"Well it was just a test model that hadn't been officially entered into military service." Schneizel noted. "We have all the data it took on hand anyways so not much of importance was lost. Still, the Zevon family will expect reimbursement for their loss."

He turned to Suzaku and Euphie. "Aside from that, I'm thankful you're both alright." He said with a smile on his face.

"Oh Schneizel, I missed you!" She said as she skipped over to her elder brother and hugged him.

"Dear Euphie, I'm sorry it took us so long." He said softly.

"Prince Schneizel, should we keep to the schedule?" The Marine Captain from Shikane inquired.

"No, Liath stated that she'll explain what happened to us in private, and that the incident is to be struck from his record." Schneizel stated calmly.

"But-!"

"She's the Executrix of the Empire, her official decisions and decrees can only be countermanded by a **near-unanimous** consensus of the Knights of the Round, a **six-sevenths** majority in the House of Lords, or the **Emperor himself** Captain." Schneizel replied to the man, leaving him fuming.

"Yes, my lord…" He said before glaring at Suzaku as he walked off.

"What happened…?" Euphie inquired.

"You don't remember…?" Schneizel asked, confused by Euphie's statement.

"No… All I remember is the Hadron Cannon blast from under the _le Fay_ and then waking up on this island…"

Schneizel frowned. "I see…"

Euphie remembered X and Zero. "Ah! There were two Maverick Hunters here just before that floor collapsed! What happened to them!?" She asked, worried about them.

Schneizel glanced at a nearby soldier.

"Uh yes, a search party from the 501st found them after investigating the tremors and called in a transerver pickup for them your highness, the Maverick Hunter HQ in Area 11 just reported that they received them safe and sound."

Euphie smiled warmly. "That's good news."

* * *

The Gawain sped across the water using its float system.

["I've contacted Ohgi, the _Isaribi_ will meet us further out to sea for pickup."]

"Right… And one other thing… The Guren Mark Two…?" Kallen asked hopefully.

["It was recovered intact. You may thank Asahina and Chiba for that."]

"Yes sir!" Kallen let out a sigh of relief as C2 made a retching noise.

"You okay?" She asked the clearly nauseous looking Reploid.

"Kallen… I can't see for shit… My sensors are so fogged up by the EM from the Sakuradite it feels like I'm drunk." She admitted. "So no, not okay…"

Kallen winced as the Reploid dry heaved again.

* * *

 **September 28, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceory's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Kururugi did what?!" Cornelia hissed as Colonel glanced over at the staff officer.

"According to Liath's report it's much like what happened to Viletta Nu, Jeremiah Gottwald and several others."

"Damn… Just when we had the lid on Ishikawa…"

Guilford rushed into the room. "Your highness!"

"What _now_ Guilford…" Cornelia grumbled.

"Enemy forces have destroyed the Kanmon bridge in Kyushu!" He reported, barely stopping to catch his breath.

Cornelia and Colonel turned to him in shock. "What?!"

"They've also cut off vehicle access at four other points and reportedly disabled our Naval forces in Kure, Nagasaki, Fukuoka, and Sasebo harbors! Large numbers of landing vessels and their escorts are moving into the Genkai Sea as we speak!"

"So, it's the inevitable Chinese Assault we'd expected… To think they'd move so quickly!" Colonel muttered under his breath.

"Have the Chinese made a declaration of war?!" Cornelia inquired, narrowing her eyes.

"No Highness! The landing craft are all bearing the flag of Japan!"

" _Of course, a 'liberation' campaign backed by Chinese 'advisors'…"_ Cornelia thought grimly, without an honest declaration of war, she couldn't bring the full weight of Britannia down upon them. _"Wait... What about Schneizel's deal?"_

Iris rushed into the room next. "Viceroy! It's begun!" She said, panting heavily to vent excess heat from her internal systems.

"What's begun!?"

"It's the Soviets!" Iris shouted. "They're-"

* * *

 **September 28, 1962 AD/2017 ATB.**

 **Amur River, Border between the USSR and Chinese Federation.**

A lone Chinese fisherman walked along the banks of Amur river, hoping to catch enough to feed his family for the week as he set up at a good spot, casting his rod into the water and ignoring the mass of Soviet troops that were supposedly exercising just across the river, they'd seen him come out enough times to figure he wasn't a spy.

After a while, he noted that there were no fish taking the bait.

"Hmm… Fish aren't biting today…" He murmured. "But why, they were biting plenty yesterday…"

His answer came as the water burbled and boiled, the fisherman scrambling away from the river as a Soviet T-62 MBT burst from the river, turret snorkel lowering as the tank's 125mm gun swiveled about, the menacing red IR jammer 'eye' blocks on the turret front glaring at him as he screamed and ran for his life.

Dozens of Soviet T-55, T-10, T-34, T-44 and T-62 tanks followed the leading T-62 from the water, in addition to a few of the Object 279 series 'Apocalypse tanks', which were backed by BTR series APCs, SPAA units, BMP-1 IFVs, IMBP-4 Kalinkas, IBMP-5 Katayushas and a new, much more Humanoid model than the older Fourth and Fifth Gen KMFs.

Many others crossed via landing barges that were being deployed.

The IBMP-6 Kolyadka units swept their monoeyes over the terrain around them, hot air hissing from the 'mouth' vents on the snouts of the Knightmares as Mi-24 'Hind' attack VTOLs and Mi-6 'Haze' and Mi-8 'Hip' VTOL transports flew overhead, backed by overflights of fighters, attack planes, and bombers while engineering units set up bridges across the Amur to bring over artillery and logistics in addition to further reinforcement waves. In the distance, on the Soviet side of the river, the immense hovering land battleships, land carriers, land cruisers and logistics and assault vessels of the Soviet Fourth Siberian Land Fleet prepared to enter Manchuria en-masse

Similar scenes were being repeated along the Soviet-Chinese border as the battle-hardened armies of the Soviet Union swept south.

While the Chinese had moved vast amounts of men and material to invade and hold Area 11, they had arrogantly left their northern flank totally exposed and undermanned, believing that the longstanding agreements to not invade the other made between them and the Russians centuries ago remained intact.

They had severely underestimated the USSR's desire for more resources and land at the expense of a power they had long grown to view as the 'sick man of the east', this combined with the EU's focus on countering Britannian moves against their African holdings meant that the Red Army had free reign to move as it wished.

The Soviet conquest of Manchuria and Mongolia had begun.

* * *

 **AN: I've been hinting at the Soviets doing something since Chapter 9.**

 **Also a fair reminder that in CG canon, the Chinese Federation is basically the WWI era Ottoman Empire, a loosely held together trapping of various ethnicities and religions that is waiting for the first real excuse to begin falling apart at the seams.**

 **And fall apart it did, as the CF by the end of the series had been reduced to China proper as we know it, smaller even given Manchuria and possibly Tibet were removed from its control. Hence the 'Sick man of the east' moniker I gave it due to it's corrupt and decaying state.**

 **Also yes, the T-62 is basically the T-90 in this timeline, with the other tanks having similar circumstances.**

 **Also, the Kolyadka is basically the Zaku F2, but Knightmare-ized like the Tieren from 00 was for the Kalinka. With a 6P57 Kord-style 76.2mm anti-armor heavy chaingun, because apparently the Russians decided that fitting a 12.7mm HMG with a bipod was a thing, and a 23mm ASh-12.7 styled AR.**

 **Plus a heavy assault cannon styled after the Nash-Shab Quad remote turret for the RPG-32, while the traditional Zaku heat-hawk is now a very sharp tomahawk meant for anti-KMF melee combat.**

 **The Katayusha is just the Hi-Mock with Knightmare features and scaling, with a modernized 9A-91 styled assault rifle, the Kalinka's assault cannon and an anti-KMF shovel.**

 **I might have already described the Katayusha but whatever.**


	22. Stage 22: The Battle for Kyushu

**AN: So I replaced the pixelart C2 (Which was just a modified X sprite TBH) with a WIP sketch I made of her that's a _bit_ more accurate.**

 **I might need more 2B pencils...**

 **But anyways, unique 'cover' art.**

 **Yay.**

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Fukuoka naval base, Fukuoka Settlement, Area 11.**

Atop the command center of the base, the Hinomaru flew in the stormy winds, flapping elegantly despite it being nothing more than the symbol of a puppet nation.

* * *

Atsushi Sawazaki stood before several cameras in front of dozens of Gun-Rus and Tierens bearing rather hastily applied JSDF markings, the Chinese built KMFs arranged behind in a menacing display practically ascribing the reality of the 'liberation' campaign as being imperialism by a different sovereign.

"We hereby declare the resurrection of the Republic of Japan as a lawful and independent sovereign nation!" He announced to the world, not betraying his nervousness at the word that Soviet warships and aircraft were attacking his supply lines as he spoke.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile Command Center.**

["Atsushi Sawasaki, leader of the forces currently occupying Fukuoka naval base, was once the chief cabinet minister of the Kururugi Administration in the former Republic of Japan."] A news anchor announced over the TV. ["After the war, he fled to the Chinese Federation, but is now apparently making his move in response to civil unrest caused by Zero and the Black Knights. Whether the Black Knights have played an active role in clearing the way for the invading forces is under investigation."]

"We're not part of it!" An angered Tamaki shouted as he clenched his fists as he and the other primary command staff of the Black Knights watched the report.

"What does Kyoto say about this?" Ohgi asked nervously as the TV rattled off about what was occurring, including live footage of the latest stage of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and Mongolia.

Diethard frowned. "This was completely out of left field, as was the sudden Soviet assault on the Chinese Federation, however, initial intel reports from our cells in the area indicate that the Britannian military forces on Kyushu and in Northern Honshu were evacuated or dispersed in secret before the assault, on a Paralevel-One order directly from the homeland no less."

"Which means that Moscow and Pendragon knew what was coming for all of those troops to be moved, the Soviet exercises were an excuse to move vast amounts of men and material to the Far East in preparation for their assault and to attack the Chinese supply routes to Kyushu." C2 observed, causing an unnerving chill to fall over the room.

"Either way, the six houses were just notified of Sawasaki's unilateral claims over the Sakuradite mining rights." Diethard continued as Kallen glanced nervously over at Zero.

"Zero… It's our move, what do we do?" She whispered to him, hoping for an answer while Shirley fiddled with her thumbs apprehensively.

Lelouch remained silent as he contemplated how to deal with this, while he'd been aware of the impending assault, he had been in the midst of drawing up plans when the Shikane incident occurred and thus hadn't completed them yet.

 _"I'll have to improvise then..."_

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 RTB.**

 **Airship HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **in formation with HIMAS** _ **Morgan le Fay**_ **, Area 11 Airspace.**

["Sawasaki's group was confirmed to have been working in conjunction with a terrorist organization in Kyushu, after cutting off vehicle access from Honshu and Shikoku, and with support from Chinese forces staging from the Liaodong and Pusan military districts, they are expanding their occupation around Fukuoka, Nagasaki, and Oita."] A female newscaster announced as the two airships flew above the storm that was raging over the Kyushu region below.

["According to General Tsao of the Chinese "Advisory" Forces. The Chinese Federation is providing only humanitarian support and is not acting as the primary combat force, declaring that the pre-assault Soviet claims of a premeditated Chinese invasion buildup using forces from various military districts on the Sino-Soviet border are "totally baseless.""]

Lloyd turned to Cecile as she strode up to him while watching the news from the bridge. "How's Suzaku doing?" He asked as one of the readouts showed a Chinese convoy many miles away flash out of existence ship by ship, likely the victims of a Soviet or Britannian attack submarine group.

"He says he'll do whatever the mission demands." Cecile replied, still somewhat worried.

"I see…" Lloyd hummed softly.

"And what about Prince Schneizel?" Cecile inquired. "Where is he?"

Lloyd turned back to the screen. "In the Tokyo Settlement, he went there after Liath explained whatever occurred with Suzaku to the both of them. Avalon doesn't have it's commander right now but we have to finish this up if we want to counter the Gejfun disturber." He admitted somewhat morbidly.

* * *

Down in the Hangar, Suzaku stared at his father's old pocket watch, which had been repaired as best as possible following his being shot in Shinjuku, as he sat against part of the hangar structure, remembering how he'd returned the pin he'd been awarded when he'd accepted Euphemia's offer of Knighthood.

He sighed, as he contemplated how poorly that had gone, what with him telling Euphie that he'd killed his father before resigning as her knight, which had also resulted in his effective demotion back to Lieutenant, not that he even cared about the rank.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Kyushu Shoreline, Area 11.**

Gunfire, shells and missiles rained down on the Britannian troops that were attempting an amphibious landing on the Kyushu shoreline, hammering the approaching forces.

The storm over the region had prevented air units from suppressing or reconning the defenses and thus leading the landing troops to suffer heavy casualties, with the Portmans and landing craft being unable to even reach the shoreline despite naval gunfire support.

* * *

On the bridge of the carrier battleship HIMS _Royal Oak_ , Guilford turned to Cornelia as the vessel fired her twin two-gun 16 inch coilgun turrets for the latest time at a Chinese strongpoint, the Knight speaking up once the thunder had faded and the guns depressed to reload. "Princess Cornelia, we're taking too many losses, and this tempest is preventing us from suppressing their defenses with our airpower." He reported candidly. "We'll have to delay the landing operation until the weather changes." He advised.

"Very well then, we'll re-group with Colonel's force to await better conditions." She conceded.

Cornelia growled in anger at the general direction of Fukuoka before signaling the order to withdraw from the assault attempts.

* * *

 **Fukuoka Naval Base, 'Republic of Japan'.**

General Tsao and Sawatsaki watched the Britannian forces withdraw, the Chinese troops ceasing fire to conserve ammo once it became clear that they were staying back this time.

"It's quite fortunate that this storm hit when it did, otherwise enemy air power would've torn our defenses to cinders and let the Soviet air wings from Vladivostok and their Pacific Fleet carriers have free reign over our supply lines as well." General Tsao noted. "We must use this reprieve to tighten our grip on Kyushu and keep enemy Submarines away from our convoys while the mainland troops fight off the Soviet offensive." He said, unaware that the Chinese military hadn't reinforced its northern defense line due to political maneuvering by various factions in the government who'd presumed the Soviets wouldn't attack.

Sawatsaki turned to face him smugly. "You see General Tsao, heaven is on _our_ side." He said as he closed his eyes and gestured out with his hand. "We're going to prevail in this battle with _ease_!" He proclaimed dramatically.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Office, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Martial law is _not_ necessary." Schneizel told the men attempting to advise him calmly. "Such measures would only frighten and upset the people, giving the enemy and renegade groups such as Mavericks or the Black Knights the chance to spread fear and suspicion."

He turned to one of the men. "Contact EU Foreign Minister Gandolphi and Australian Secretary of State Barwick. Tell them that we have the situation in hand." He paused briefly as he remembered something. "Oh, and put a call in to the Toromo Agency in Cambodia."

Darlton frowned. "Prince Schneizel, using the Toromo Agency in this-" He began before Euphie strode into the room, interrupting him.

"Prime Minister."

The men turned to face her. "Yes Euphie? Is something wrong?" Schneizel inquired.

"I'm the sub-viceroy of Area 11, I should be assisting you." She stated.

Schneizel smiled at her. "Thank you. Just your offer of assistance is more than enough." He assured her.

Euphie frowned, taking a slight step forward. "But I…"

Darlton sighed. "The Viceroy gave _strict_ orders that you _not_ be entangled in this matter, Princess." He informed her.

Admittedly, it was incredibly bullheaded of Cornelia to not let Euphie get hands on experience handling a crisis of this level, which she would certainly need if she was to become the new Viceroy of Area 11, but who was he to say such to her.

"And Executrix Liath countermanded that order, stating that she was authorized to take a support role in managing the civilian population if she so wished." A man in a 501st service uniform, with the name 'Fox' on his jacket, told Darlton.

Darlton shrugged and conceded defeat.

The Viceroy did…?! Just because I chose my own knight without her agreement…" Euphie said sadly, looking quite forlorn.

Darlton's eyes widened, knowing that she was taking this entirely the wrong way. "Uh no, that's not correct, even with the Kururugi matter…" He began before Schneizel cut him off.

"Please understand Euphie, Cornelia felt she couldn't take any chances at this juncture, what with the situation being so treacherous." Her elder half-brother explained.

Her eyes widened. "You mean…"

Schneizel turned to Darlton. "Darlton, concerning the matter we were discussing, I know someone who has a way in with them, so I will ask for help." He replied.

"Yes, your Highness."

Schneizel then put a wry grin on his face. "And contact the _Reprisal_ , _Victorious_ , _Illustrious_ , and _Yorktown_ carrier strike groups and their attached ARGs and order them to move in when the weather clears. Additionally contact the Kyushu Command on the secure line I've provided to the communications department to tell them to engage."

That put Darlton and the others for a loop. "But your highness, those units were all-"

"No, they weren't." Schneizel clarified. "I had given them Paralevel-One orders to head to sea when it became clear the Chinese were about to move against us. What the Chinese have taken or destroyed largely amounts to equipment that was on downtime undergoing maintenance and decoy tanks and aircraft" He clarified, leaving Darlton in awe. "I should thank Premier Gorbachev privately after this, the KGB's SIGINT and ELINT operations are apparently are much better managed than OSI's."

Darlton's eyes widened as he connected the dots while Euphemia nodded imperceptibly at her brother, remembering the deal he'd mentioned after Lake Kawaguchi.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"After all of our hard work getting this ready…" Milly sighed as she lowered a sheet of paper for the planned school festival. "It looks like it's going to be canceled…"

She was honestly nervous as all hell, but panicking would do nobody any good.

"That's hardly a huge consideration given that we're at war…" Rivalz noted, since the EU had backed off following the arrival of Cornelia's forces in Area 18, the situation was generally viewed as peaceful in the Empire at large.

And then _this_ happened.

"Did you say _war_ …?" Nina asked nervously, looking at Rivalz as he continued typing away intently.

"The Chinese are using this government in exile thing as a smokescreen to take Area 11 for themselves, and so far as I can tell someone in Pendragon made a deal with Moscow as well, hence why the Soviets were raring and ready to go the moment the news of the landings came. Which basically means we're in a three-way struggle where two sides are nominally allied against a common opponent, in this case, the Chinese Federation."

"Oh… I see…" Nina replied softly.

Milly looked over at Nina. "Nina, what about the booths we were planning to borrow from the art museum?" She asked, hiding her concerns about the whole situation.

Nina glanced over at her. "Uh, I'm going there today. If I have some extra time, I'd also like to drop into the science department." She said with a smile on her face.

Milly raised an eyebrow. "Are you talking about that _present_ of yours?" She asked as Rivalz looked up from his work.

"Huh? What present is that?" He asked, confused.

Nina looked at him. "Professor Asplund said that I should ask him if there was something special that I wanted."

"You mean Lloyd!? That philandering playboy!?" Rivalz hissed, the young man clearly upset as Milly facepalmed.

"That's enough! Could you get a little work done?" Milly asked.

Rivalz turned to her with a frown on his face. "Easy for _you_ to say. This is work for three people! Suzaku's in the Army. Kallen's in the hospital. Shirley's busy at home. And that other fool and his 'assistant' are nowhere to be found!" He grumbled. "I swear, there's something really weird going on with Lelouch lately."

Milly hummed thoughtfully. "Hey, does Shirley's roommate, Sophie, have any other extracurricular activities she's doing?"

Rivalz checked the list. "No, why?" He asked.

"I think I found another paperwork jockey for us!" Milly said in a sing-song tone.

"I fear for her..." Rivalz whispered under his breath.

* * *

 **HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **hangar deck, Area 11 Airspace.**

["Z-01, float attachment, contact."] A tech reported as the prototype Knightmare use attachable float system was hooked onto the Lancelot. ["Control line, established, avionics, online."]

"That's really amazing." Cecile noted as she looked at Suzaku's simulator statistics. "You got a _perfect_ rating on the float unit simulator, I guess Liath's training really does work."

["Thank you."] Suzaku acknowledged.

"Tell me, why did you want to give up being Euphemia's knight, Suzaku? Was it because of the discrimination you got due to the promotion to Major?"

["Well no... It's because… Princess Euphemia still approves of me even as I am now."] He explained apprehensively. ["So if I caused her any trouble, if I brought her any dishonor or shame, I had a feeling that she would end up hating herself…"]

"Oh Suzaku…" Cecile whispered softly.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Prince Clovis Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Euphie stared at a monochrome portrait of Clovis as she contemplated her purpose. _"A figurehead… That's all I was from the start… I knew that…"_ She thought somewhat depressingly. _"But I thought that if I gave my best effort,_ maybe _I could make some difference…"_

" _Forgive me Clovis… I met Zero face to face, but didn't avenge your death…"_ She pleaded mentally. _"I have to think of some way to save Lelouch and Nunnally, but how? I don't have the kind of power or respect that my sister has. I'm not like her or schneizel… No matter_ where _I go I'm just a burden and I act selfishly though I don't mean to."_

" _I chose my Knight against my sister's recommendations… And now… He's resigned…"_ She thought sadly, knowing that Suzaku likely felt he was protecting her from his actions.

* * *

Outside the Museum a Guard stopped Nina. "Oh right, I remember you, you're supposed to be signing off on the documents today, but a member of the Royal Family is viewing the art right now and with the current security situation…"

"Huh? Which member is it?" She asked, hoping it was Euphemia.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Submarine** _ **Isaribi**_ **, Area 11 territorial waters.**

Zero stood in the briefing room aboard the _Isaribi_ as his words sunk in to the assembled members of the Black Knights.

"Uh… So you're saying…" Tamaki questioned.

="We _aren't_ going to collaborate with Sawatsaki."= Zero clarified, Ohgi, Shirley, Kallen, Todoh, Diethard, and C2 flanking him on the stage. ="He's not _independent._ The man's little more than a _puppet_ for the Chinese Federation."=

"But he says he's fighting for _Japan_." Urabe noted.

="We'd get a new _name_ and a new _master_ , but in practice, little to nothing would _actually_ change, beyond the Britannians that're left behind being discriminated against as _well_ as the Japanese. _His_ Japan is a _sham_. Existing only to give the Chinese access to the nation's Sakuradite stockpile for their own benefit."= Zero stated, his mask tilting downward slightly to emphasize Lelouch's frustration at having to explain this to people who should clearly know better.

Aside from Tamaki.

Maybe.

"Yeah, so what're you're _really_ saying is…" Asahina began.

"Is that when Britannia strikes back we play dead?" Urabe concluded, still confused as to where Zero was taking this.

Diethard glanced at the masked man, noting the growing irritation on C2's face and in Zero's body language. "Zero, perhaps you should better clarify what our overall mission is." He suggested.

Ohgi turned to look at him as well. "Yeah, he's right, even leaving aside the Sawasaki matter, what's our mid-term goal in all of this?"

Zero paused and took a breath before speaking.

="To make Tokyo the capital of a newly independent Japan, consisting of the Kanto region at the very least to begin with."= Zero stated, much to the shock of his subordinates barring Shirley and C2.

And even they were caught off-guard by the confidence with which he revealed his plan.

"An independent nation!?" Kallen gasped in shock, amazed by how bold Zero's goals were.

"Are you serious?!"

"You mean us?!"

"A country?!"

The black knights chattered excitedly, some expressing disbelief that Zero was even serious.

Diethard on the other hand had a face of absolutely _ecstatic_ glee. "I thought so…" He murmured. "He's really going all the way…!"

Ohgi took a step towards Zero. "Wait a minute! No matter how much the Black Knights have expanded…"

"Our enemy is an _empire_ that controls one _third_ of the world!" Chiba finished for him.

"We can't pull that off _alone_!" Tamaki exclaimed as he took a step forwards.

="Then answer me this! Are you just going to sit back and wait for someone else to defeat Britannia? _Who_?! You think that if you _wait_ long enough that _someday_ the right chance will finally come!?"= He questioned. ="Don't be naïve! If we don't stand up and do this _ourselves_ , then that "someday" will _never_ come!"= He snapped at them, cowing his troops into submission once again.

C2 hummed softly. "The Australians at the least might be able to help us should we convince them that an independent Japan is in their long-term interests… They're the only nation in modern history that's decisively defeated Britannia after all." She noted, Zero nodding at her in agreement.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **JS** _ **Kasagi**_ **, CV(S)-49** **, West Pacific Ocean.**

To say Commander, now brevet-Admiral, Mari Hiryuu was irate would be a severe understatement as she stood on the bridge of the _Kasagi_ , her carrier sailing at the center of its battlegroup in the Indian ocean, which had been reinforced by the arrival of a relative handful of other surviving JMSDF warships, their crews emboldened by Zero's actions.

Compared to Japan's pre-invasion Naval might it was minimal. But including the _Taihou_ and _Amagi_ carrier groups, the assault landing ships _Etorofu_ and _Matsuma_ with their amphibious battlegroups, and the sleek, but admittedly rather useless beyond adding more VLS cells to the fleet, heavy guided missile battleship _Shinano_ and her escorts into their force made the odds of them being ambushed by Britannian subs far less likely.

Even still. While an impressive force, even the Australians, who offered them a distraction for Britannia's Navy as they broke out into the Pacific, severely outgunned them, to say nothing of the four remaining superpowers and the naval forces they could bring to bear.

Especially since the pre-invasion MSDF had _far_ outnumbered her current force.

And so far as she was concerned, her ships represented what little remained of sovereign Japanese soil under international law. By continuing to exist as a fleet in being, the nation of Japan clung to life through them as long as the flag of the rising sun flew over their decks.

Which is mostly why she'd rejected Sawatsaki's 'orders' out of hand.

"Fucking Sawasaki that opportunistic bastard… To order us to fall in and attack the Britannian Navy and the Soviets to cover his ass… Like hell I am." She grumbled as she watched a pair of F/A-27 Sakuras scream into the air off the carrier's flight deck, the Japanese JSFs climbing to altitude. "If that bastard actually cared about anything other than his personal power he'd have joined the JLF or stayed in contact with Kyoto."

"What should we do then ma'am?" Her XO inquired as the Destroyer _Mirai_ cut across the formation ahead of the _Kasagi_ while it moved to its new position in the fleet.

"We let him reap what he has sown." She replied flatly, the man nodding at her. "Marty's already told him to fuck off quite literally. And I intend to be no less crass about my response to that sellout either."

"Shall I send him your pre-prepared message then?"

There was a devilish grin on her face. "Do it." She ordered.

* * *

 **Black Knights Submarine** _ **Isaribi**_ **Flight Deck, Area 11 territorial waters.**

The _Isaribi_ floated on the surface as the passing storm raged around them, weakening by the minute.

On the opened flight deck, the Gawain stood, Nemo readying it for battle as Rakshata's techs prepped the onboard hyper-solar reactor setup, which had been intended to reduce the machine's reliance on energy fillers due to the high power requirements of its various systems.

Zero turned to C2 as a tiltrotor was elevated up from the support hangar deck and prepped for flight. "Least you're not having me ride in on an Ohka cruise missile…" She snarked dryly as Lelouch glared at her from behind his mask, his cloak flapping dramatically in the wind.

="There's a fine line between desperate and absurd Q2."= He remarked equally dryly. ="Besides, we're bringing your new unit in to help clear out the base in Fukuoka."=

A squad of Reploids marched up, most were the basic X-based humanoid combat models also used by the Maverick Hunters, although each boasted a violet visor over their eyes typical of the Black Knights.

Leading them was a cloak wearing silver and blue armored Reploid that vaguely resembled a stag beetle if one squinted enough, the red optic sensors and masked face of the Reploid gazing impassively at the two of them.

"Ma'am! Sergeant Rokusho and Squad Seven reporting for battle!" The Reploid announced as he and the others saluted.

C2 returned the salute. "At ease Sergeant, Zero has our marching orders for the day."

The twelve newcomer Reploids and C2 all turned to face Zero.

The masked man cleared his throat before speaking. ="Squad Seven is to infiltrate via the urban area surrounding the Fukuoka joint base, as the storm clears further the Gawain will join you in the primary assault on the base, by this point some Britannian forces may have reached it as well."= He stated calmly.

"And our orders if we are to encounter them?" Rokusho inquired.

="You are to aid them and defuse any situation that arises as a result of your encounter _nonviolently_. Evade them if you cannot. I want to show the world _exactly_ where we stand regarding this invasion. Do _not_ allow yourselves to be cornered by any of their reinforcement troops either, as after this extenuating issue is resolved the status quo _will_ reassert itself."= He assured them.

There was some chatter but the grunts got the gist of the message, The Black Knights would side with Britannia due to this unwarranted aggression by the Chinese Federation but no further than that.

"Understood." Rokusho acknowledged as C2 whistled.

"Squad! Load up!" She shouted, causing her troops to march off towards the ramp of the waiting ex-JGSDF spec-ops deployment tiltrotor.

Zero watched as the ramp raised and the aircraft, now fully fueled and prepped for flight lifted into the air after final checks finished before receding into the distance as it flew off, all the while wind and rain lashed at the deck, a very irate looking and sopping wet Nemo still doing the pre-flight checks on the Gawain with a raincoat over her pilot suit.

Lelouch smirked behind his mask. If he was right about Britannia's technological developments, Suzaku would be joining the party the moment the weather cleared over the target area.

At which point the Gawain would serve as the cavalry since even a Round level pilot fighting by themselves would be simply overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Chinese troops at Fukuoka.

As the wind swept his cloak about, he turned and headed back towards the Gawain.

" _The final condition is about to be met… Then the operation will proceed to the next phase."_ He thought with a great deal of self-satisfaction.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Kyushu Island, Area 11.**

Gun and cannon fire echoed through the brush as Reploid and Human soldiers of the Britannian Army exchanged fire with units of the 'Japanese Liberation' Forces as they pushed the invaders back.

Captain Brenner lowed his binoculars as another platoon of M60A1s rolled up to the line and began to exchange fire with a force of Chinese Gun-Rus and Type 62 Light Tanks in order to cover the Ride Armor and Knightmare troops as they flanked the enemy, the linear cannons of the Britannian tanks barking in response to the thunder of the Chinese gunpowder-based weapons.

["Sir, what're the odds of a successful landing?"] Sandra Lin, his XO, inquired as her unit of light tanks rushed to aid a faltering infantry company that was under attack by waves of Chinese Reploids and light Mechaniloids.

Brenner frowned as he checked the now somewhat clear skies. "Hard to say, I have no doubt that the landings will be a resounding success with our air power now in play, but the Chinese will fight hard to keep our reinforcements from arriving." He replied over the radio. "It's just a matter of how the Viceroy handles it." He said as one of the new M247 SPAA tanks swiveled its turret about, firing streams of 40mm linear propelled shells into the sky from its twin guns and forcing a Chinese Q-5 attack jet to break off its run lest it be swatted from the sky.

["Roger."] She acknowledged.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMS _Royal Oak_ , BBVG-38, Inland Sea, Area 11.**

"Looks like it's cleared up." Cornelia noted as she gazed out the bridge windows of the _Royal_ _Oak_ while the helmsman input course corrections into the touch-pad controls at the navigation console, the ship no longer being slammed about as the sea had calmed for the most part.

"Then we'll be able to commence our landings in concert with Repliforce and the Kyushu based naval and amphibious forces." Guilford noted as Cornelia nodded at him. "And we'll try to put Prince Schneizel's plan into action."

Cornelia glanced over at her Knight briefly before returning her eyes forwards. "You think the Special Corps can break through their line?"

"With Kururugi, it's possible… But he'll be in deep with no immediate support as Liath's Scathatch requires fine tuning on its float system, which'll delay her departure from the _le Fay_." He stated, though he remained privately concerned that this another bit of maneuvering on Schneizel's part, using Kururugi as a pawn for his own ends rather than Britannia's.

Cornelia huffed as a pair of F-11s were flung off the flight deck and began to climb higher into the sky thanks to the vessel's magnetic catapults. "Using him can also mean trouble."

"That may be, but the _Avalon's_ commander is not present, and Earl Asplund isn't a military officer."

* * *

 **HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **, Airspace over the Inland sea, Area 11.**

Alarms blared on the Avalon's bridge as it detected long range SAM launches from Fukuoka.

["Incoming enemy high-speed surface to air missiles! Launch point appears to be Fukuoka base!"] Someone shouted over the intercom from the CIC. ["One minute, five seconds to impact!"]

["ECM online, _le Fay_ reports main guns, CIWS, and interceptor missiles firing!"]

["Blaze Luminous and chaff ready!"]

"Not bad." Lloyd said as he stood up straighter and put his hands in his labcoat's pockets. "They're well prepared against air raids as well."

Cecile simply braced herself, praying that the Blaze Luminous held against a salvo like this.

* * *

Down in the hangar Suzaku grimaced as the Lancelot was prepped for launch.

"Are we throwing up a barrage?" Suzaku asked.

["We'll be fine, the _le Fay_ is whittling down the salvo enough for the Blaze Luminous to be assured in handling it."]

* * *

Missiles and 76mm linear propelled shells lanced out towards the incoming warheads from the _Morgan le Fay_ , intercepting the bulk of the Chinese SAMs heading towards the _Avalon_.

And yet, the sheer density of the assault had overwhelmed the defenses thrown up by the _Avalon_ -class airship, the salvo slamming into both the incoming warships.

Unbeknownst to the Chinese, the missiles never _directly_ impacted either vessel, slamming into the translucent green of their Blaze Luminous barriers and detonating harmlessly.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Fukuoka Base Control Center.**

["Direct hits confirmed! The _Avalon_ and _Morgan le Fay_ are destroyed!"] A Chinese radar officer reported as Sawasaki and Tsao smirked.

Sawasaki grunted in self-assurement. "Even if they _are_ state of the art, two ships are little threat to our forces here."

Then the tracking officer frowned. ["Hang on sir! There's something on the radar screen!"] They announced.

Sawasaki leaned in as the TACNET screen promptly reported the _Avalon_ and _Morgan le Fay_ were still en-route to Fukuoka.

"What in the…!?"

* * *

 **HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **, Airspace over the Inland sea, Area 11.**

Lloyd grinned smugly. "Lancelot's shield was already proven many times over on the battlefield." He remarked as Cecile began chattering into her direct link to Suzaku.

"Lieutenant Kururugi, I'm laying out the mission plan for final verification." She stated calmly. "This ship will breach the enemy's frontline from high altitude and move directly to the final launch point while the _Morgan le Fay_ covers us from additional enemy attacks."

"The Advanced Weapons System Z-01 Lancelot, using the testbed float unit, will attack the enemy headquarters at Fukuoka base." Cecile paused briefly before continuing. "The testbed float unit consumes energy at a far more rapid pace than you're used to, so pay attention to your energy filler." Cecile warned him. "When the EZ-01/B Scathach is finally prepared for battle, Executrix Liath will join you in the mop-up operation."

* * *

Suzaku's hand twitched on the right control column. "Yes, my lord." He acknowledged as he pressed a switch, sending the Lancelot into its trademark ready stance.

He kept an eye on the RPMs of the Yggdrasil drive. "ME Boost…"

["Lancelot unit, now launching!"]

"Launch!"

The linear catapult went to launch charge as the Lancelot's landspinners kicked into high gear, sending the Knightmare flying forwards down the catapult and off into the sky.

As the Lancelot began to arc down towards the Earth below, the wings of the float pack spread out and opened up, forcing an EM charge on the surrounding air that gave the nearly seven ton Knightmare enough lift to remain airborne, at a severe cost to its energy filler.

Then the jet engines in the inboard pods fired up and propelled Lancelot forwards towards its destination.

Fukuoka.

* * *

 **Fukuoka Base Control Center.**

["The lead enemy ship appears to have launched some kind of gunship, but it's nearly three times faster than an AV-1 Cobra!"] The Radar Officer reported.

["I've got a picture from one of our long-range AA batteries!"] Another officer shouted.

A window opened on the main screen, showing somewhat grainy image of the Z-01 Lancelot _flying_ towards them.

There were gasps of awe and shock from all around.

"A Knightmare!" Sawasaki gasped in horror.

"It's not being transported." Taso noted with some unease. "It's just _flying_ on its own!"

"That weapons report we got…" Sawasaki hummed in contemplation before his eyes widened. "Could _this_ be it?!"

Tsao scoffed audibly. "You mean that _novelty_ testbed!?"

Realization set in on Sawasaki. "If that's the case, then the pilot is…"

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB**

 **Fukuoka base grounds.**

The tiltrotor deposited C2 and Squad 7 on a parking complex near the exterior of the base grounds before heading off to a nearby cell's base to refuel.

"Alright boys, just follow my lead and _try_ not to get retired keeping up with me." She snarked as she led the half the group down the side of the building as three squadrons of VTOL gunships roared into the air, off to engage the Lancelot she presumed.

" _Those poor bastards…"_ She thought, hoping that the Chinese had at least bothered to install ejection seats on their VTOL gunships for the sake of those hapless pilots being thrown against Suzaku like lambs to the slaughter.

"Alpha Team, take out those J-6s before they can get off the ground!" She ordered as four Reploids of Alpha team prepped their RPGs and aimed at the Chinese copies of the Soviet MiG-19 'Farmer', the distinctive dorsal louver inlets, intended to allow them to take off from unprepared or damaged airstrips with the main intakes closed, of the 4th gen model visible from this angle.

Four shaped charge warheads lanced out, spiraling towards the four flight-ready reserve alert aircraft as they began to taxi towards the runway, turning them into short-lived fireballs as the fighters blew apart into flaming heaps of wreckage while the ground crews scrambled away from the other aircraft on this flight line or rushed to aid the pilots of the now destroyed interceptors.

"Bravo, you're with me! Alpha, provide suppressing fire and knock out those tanks if you get a shot!" C2 ordered as she fired her boosters and leapt into the air as dozens of Chinese soldiers, Reploid, Mechaniloid and human alike, rushed towards them, backed by Ride Armors and Type 58 tanks, which had apparently been fielded in lieu of armored cars.

C2 grinned, she hadn't had a rush like this since _Shinjuku_.

As her teams covered her, she activated a drill on her left arm and her buster cannon on her right, laying down fire as she swept the high-speed mining tool through Chinese Reploids and Mechaniloids as they tried to cut her off and isolate her.

The Type 58s quickly noticed that she was tearing apart the frontline after the third squad's worth of troops she'd darted into was torn apart and swiveled their turrets towards the green blur that was shredding their forces.

That proved to be a mistake as Rokusho, having leapt from tank to tank in the chaos, his inbuilt sword, intended for gladiatorial combat against much more well armored opponents than himself and thus boasting a molecular edged blade, slicing off machine gun and cannon barrels with almost effortless ease, rendering the Chinese armor toothless.

The rest of Bravo And Alpha teams trooped up behind them as C2 finally ceased her whirling dance of death, leaving a field of corpses and shattered machinery over part of the airfield while the others stared at her in shock.

"Alpha! Move up and take out their Air Defenses! Bravo! We're going to keep sweeping the flanks!" She shouted as a group of Type 63 Amphibious light tanks and multiple armored cars roared up on their landspinners, main guns thundering and autocannons blazing away as they tried to a get a fix on the Reploids for their anti-tank missile launchers.

["Roger that ma'am!"]

And with that, her speed gear surrounding her in a blue aura, she launched herself at the Chinese reinforcements, which included a few additional Type 58s and some truck mounted AA guns arriving soon after, the verdant-hued Reploid grinning eagerly as she finally cut loose for the first time in _weeks_.

* * *

 **Fukuoka Base Command Center.**

["Send backup to aid the security troops in the Western airfield!"] Someone shouted as Sawasaki clenched his fists, watching the smug Reploid leading the attack tear into his forces with wild abandon.

["Enemy Knightmare now in visual range!"] A technician reported from his console.

"Open a Channel to it." Sawasaki ordered as a wary Tsao looked over at him.

* * *

Suzaku struck down the last Chinese WC-7 VTOL gunship between him and Fukuoka, hoping secretly that the crew had managed to eject, in the distance he could see smoke rising from one part of Fukuoka.

" _Someone beat me to it? But who?"_

A chime over his comms indicated that a channel had been opened. "An open channel?"

Sawasaki's upper body and head appeared on one of his screens. ["This is Minister Sawasaki, is that Prime Minister Kururugi's son in the pilot seat?"] The man said in a condescending manner, as if he was talking to a mere child.

Suzaku resisted the urge to snap back at him.

["I see, I didn't know he had a son like _you_."]

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Sub-Viceroy's Quarters, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Euphie and Nina sat in front of the fireplace after the former had prevented the latter from being arrested, and had god knows what done to her by an overly protective Cornelia after she returned from Kyushu.

"And then, when you saved me, Princess Euphemia… I'll never forget it. You looked like some kind of _goddess_." Nina admitted sheepishly to her. "Like you were bathed in radiant light."

Nina realized what she'd just said and gasped. "Oh! Forgive me! I should've thanked you for this change of clothes you gave me!"

Euphie smiled, hiding her awkwardness at the other girl basically confessing to having a crush on her. "Oh don't worry about that, Nina." Euphie assured her before looking towards the crackling fire. "Besides, I'm not all that wonderful of a person you think I am." She sighed. "I'm no good compared to many of my brothers and sisters, and even Marrybell, who's last in line for the throne behind several of my _deceased_ siblings, is more capable than I…"

"No! That's not true!" Nina objected quickly. "How can you say that about yourself when… There's not one good thing about _me_ …" The spectacled girl said as she looked down at herself. "Really, nothing at all. My parents are ordinary, I'm not the least bit pretty, and there's nothing _special_ about me."

Euphie shook her head. "That's wrong Nina, I think you're a very cute girl."

Nina gasped and lowered her head, blushing. "Oh, no, I'm not really good for anything, honest."

" _She hates herself…"_ Euphie realized before glancing off to the side. _"But… So do I…"_

"I guess I understand…" Nina finally conceded. "But Suzaku makes me uneasy, he's just so friendly but there's times when it seems like he's just burying everything… And you don't really know what he'll do."

Euphie's eyes widened in realization, mentally smacking herself at how obvious everything was. _"That's it! Suzaku must hate himself because of what he did to his father! That's why he resigned as my Knight! Because he feels like he's unworthy of me due to that! He might even think_ I _hate him because of it!"_

"So please! Oh please! Don't say anything badly about yourself Princess Euphemia! I beg of you! Because…" Nina glanced away. "Because I need you… I need your goodness…" The girl said with an even redder blush on her face.

Euphie smiled earnestly at Nina. "Thank you so much Nina. I'm glad I got to know you."

Nina gasped.

"You really helped me understand something important today!" She assured the shy girl.

* * *

 **Fukuoka Base, Area 11.**

["This has nothing to do with my Father, I came here to put an end to all this pointless bloodshed."] Suzaku retorted to Sawasaki over the radio as C2 listened with codes acquired from a Type 59 command tank she'd cleared out with a couple precision shots from her buster cannon.

["You want to _rob_ Japan of its dreams of _freedom_!?"] Sawasaki asked, incredulous.

["Freedom has to come the _right_ way, not like _this_!]

Sawasaki's tone shifted to something angrier. ["You'll act out of _selfishness_!? What you're doing is just justice without ideology!"] He scoffed.

C2 sighed, hoping that Lelouch was en-route as she watched dozens of Tierens, Ride Armors, and Gun-Rus swarm towards the now grounded Lancelot on the TACNET.

* * *

"No! You're wrong! That's not what I-" Suzaku began to protest before a nearby explosion sent him reeling.

30mm cannon shells raced towards him as the first of _many_ squads of Chinese KMFs advanced on him.

The VARIS rifle, his most potent weapon, skipped across the ground and began to slide to a stop when a stray shell blew it apart.

"The VARIS!" He gasped in horror, now down his only effective ranged combat method. "Damn… Gun-Rus and Tierens…" He snarled as the enemy KMFs closed in on him.

* * *

 **Fukuoka Command Center.**

Sawasaki chuckled mirthfully. "That little brat allowed me to distract him over his ideological concerns. What a fool, he still has _much_ to learn."

* * *

 **Viceroy's Office, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Schneizel and Darlton glanced over from their conversation about the state of the landings as Euphemia strode purposefully into the office.

"Euphie?"

She clasped her hands in front of her chest before she began. "Schneizel! May I have access to a _private_ communications line?" She requested.

"Well… I don't see why not…" Her half-brother replied, figuring that she meant contacting Suzaku, something Darlton quickly realized as well.

* * *

 **Fukuoka Base.**

The Lancelot reversed as fast as it could with the bulky float pack on, using the blaze luminous to deflect most of the spray of incoming 30mm fire from the Chinese KMFs and ride armors.

A lucky hit penetrated the float pack's left engine and set off something critical, forcing Suzaku to eject the damaged mechanism as he ducked between a pair of VTOL hangars, the damaged float pack taking another hit and blowing apart.

And that's when he noticed his energy filler. "What!? Already that depleted!" He gasped in shock at the perilously low energy levels.

* * *

 **HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **, airspace over Kyushu.**

"WHAT! THEY BLASTED OFF THE FLOAT PACK!?" Lloyd gasped in horror.

"We'll have have the _Avalon_ strike directly at the base!" Cecile stated grimly.

"We can't!" Lloyd protested. "Only the _le_ _Fay_ has the omnidirectional shield setup and low weight armor fitted due to budgetary reasons! Our shielding only covers the _ventral_ surface and we have zero armor plate beyond basic splinter protection! One direct hit with enough punch behind it and a ship this lightly protected is going down in flames!" He exclaimed as he grabbed at his head and stared at the front tactical screen.

Cecile grit her teeth and turned back to the console. "Suzaku! Re-route all power to combat and communications systems!" She ordered.

["Got it!"]

* * *

 **Fukuoka Base.**

Suzaku hit the emergency re-route switch and the Lancelot's cockpit dimmed, red emergency lighting his only source of visibility beyond the glow of his cockpit screens while the factspheres retracted, taking up too much energy to be viable now.

["It's _you_ who had better surrender Suzaku, since you're Prime Minister Kururugi's son, I can guarantee you'll be well treated my boy."] Sawasaki said patronizingly.

Suzaku grimaced. "I decline, if I used my Father's name to sell out Japan to a different ruler, I'd never forgive myself! This is between you and me!" He announced.

["I see, you're very much your father's son, and you're as foolish, selfish and stubborn as he was!"] Sawasaki decried as Suzaku's eyes widened briefly.

He glanced around, seeing nothing but a sea of KMFs, Tanks, Heavy Mechaniloids, and Ride Armors, most of them automated and running on slave control settings due to a lack of pilots, surrounding him.

Even in Lancelot he was so horrendously outgunned it wasn't even funny.

["Suzaku Kururugi!"]

His eyes widened as he looked up to his comms screen, seeing Euphie looking back at him.

"Princess Euphemia!"

Her face took on a nervous look. ["The truth is, you and I uh, that is…"] She started awkwardly.

Suzaku drove the Lancelot out from his shelter and sliced a waiting Tieren in half at the legs with his MVS. "Sorry! But right now…"

["You see…"]

Suzaku then cleaved one of the gun arms off a Gun-Ru as he blazed past the first squad to try and intercept him.

Euphie's face hardened as she made up her mind. ["I hereby command you to _love_ me!"] She declared, shocking the techs surrounding her in the Bureau's communications center, in addition to Cecile.

"Right!" Suzaku replied without thinking or hesitation, only to realize _what_ he'd just agreed to.

["And in return, I will love _you_ as well!"] She stated as more Chinese Knightmares, Mechaniloids and Ride Armors closed in on the Lancelot, guns blazing away. ["Forever!"]

Lancelot charged back at them, Suzaku deciding to go down _fighting_. "Princess Euphemia…"

["Suzaku, I love your stubbornness and your kindness and your strength."] She said as he sliced the 'leg' off a Gun-Ru that had gotten too close to him. ["Your sad eyes, your clumsiness and the way you have trouble with cats."]

["I love _everything_ about you!"] Euphie stated as he impaled Tieren with a slash harken shot. ["So _please_! _Don't_ hate yourself!"] She demanded.

Suzaku's eyes widened again as he gasped in shock. "I see that I've made you even more worried than I did _before_." He chuckled as the Lancelot twirled around, slamming multiple Chinese Knightmares, Mechaniloids and Ride Armors into eachother. "Everything you do is impulsive. When we first met, when I found out you were a Princess, when you selected my school, when you made me a knight… Always!"

["Yes! They were all sudden!"] She said with a smile on her face. ["That's because I suddenly realized…"]

Lancelot swept out of a cloud of black smoke left by a volley of artillery shells from a group of Tierens and Mechaniloids. "But then it's that spur of the moment feeling that's opened so many doors for me!" He said as he raced towards the command center.

["WHAT'RE YOU DOING!? STOP HIM NOW!"] Sawasaki shouted over an open channel.

Suzaku's eyes hardened. "Princess, can I make one final request?" He asked as Chinese mechs and armored units seemed to flood out of the woodwork.

["Final!?"] A distraught Euphie gasped.

"If something should happen to me, whatever it is, please _don't_ blame yourself." He asked of her. "Destroy _all_ the records and erase every trace, so that no one knows what happened to me."

Lancelot leapt out from behind a pair of Knightmare Hangars and into an encirclement of Gun-Rus, Tierens, and Panzer-Hummel based Longkus, alongside a sizable group of Chinese ride armors. "I don't want my friends to be sad, just tell them I transferred schools or make up some story." He requested as he watched the Blaze Luminous shimmer and begin to die.

["Suzaku, don't tell me you're…"]

He smiled sadly. "Yes, the Knightmare's just about out of energy, I'm using what little I have left to speak with you." He replied. "Oh! And please, say goodbye to Miss Cecile and Lloyd and to Prince Schneizel, and tell the Executrix that I'm deeply sorry to have failed her teachings…"

He sighed. "I was stubborn all the way to the end."

The screen went blank, but just before the speakers died as his long rang transmitter shut down he heard Euphie say one final thing. ["PLEASE SUZAKU DON'T DIE! YOU HAVE TO _LIVE_!"] She pleaded desperately.

He felt an odd feeling tug at the back of his mind as the live command Lelouch set upon him began to activate, only to find no realistic way out of the situation with what Suzaku had on hand and fading.

"W… What the…"

["FIRE!"] Sawasaki ordered to his troops over the radio.

At that moment a pair of red and black energy beams swept over the troops encircling Suzaku, partially melting their machines, each of which exploded as their Yggdrasil drives and solar cores went critical.

Suzaku gasped as the explosion played over his main screen.

" _Hadron blasts… But, two of them…!?"_

* * *

 **Fukuoka Base Command Center**

Confusion reigned over the occupied command center as Sawaski leaned over the railing.

["What was that?!"] One officer demanded.

["Something just appeared on radar! A stealth system of some kind!"]

["We've got visual! Putting it on main screen!"] One of the techs shouted.

The camera panned up and to the right and zoomed in twice, revealing the imposing black and gold form of the Gawain hovering serenely in the night sky.

"A Knightmare?!" Tsao gasped.

["Look at the size of that thing!"] One of the techs whispered.

* * *

 **Fukuoka Base.**

Suzaku glanced over his shoulder as the rear mounted screen came to life. "That's…"

* * *

C2 smirked as she lowered her radio and slapped Rokusho on the shoulder. "Well, I'd say this is a fine job well done." She joked.

"I'll say, I guess we're going into cleanup mode now." The KWG-Type Reploid joked.

* * *

The cannon emitters on the Gawain closed as Nemo cocked her head. "I see, rather fitting that they call it Lancelot if a non-Britannian is piloting it. Sir Lancelot was supposedly a Frenchman after all depending on whose version of the legends you read. He fights about as recklessly as his machine's namesake as well."

Lelouch smirked wryly in the seat behind her. "Yes, but this time he seems to be following someone else's plan rather than acting impulsively and on his own." He noted. "Sending in a single fighter to disrupt the main force is a low-risk but high-reward strategy… Even if he fails, Cornelia and Colonel can move right in while the enemy attempts to regroup."

His face hardened. _"Schneizel… Is this his idea?"_ He thought as a pair of VTOL gunships appeared before him.

" _How trivial."_ He thought before smirking smugly. "These people are in my way." He chided as he activated the hadron cannons again and blew both gunships out of the sky with a single pull of the trigger.

"Quit wasting energy dumbass, we could easily have swatted aside two slow moving aircraft with the finger harkens." Nemo scolded him.

"Fine." He conceded.

* * *

 **HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **, Kyushu Airspace, Area 11.**

"They… They actually perfected the Hadron Cannons…" Cecile gasped in horror.

An equally stunned Lloyd looked down at the deck plating. "They made the beams _converge_!? But _I_ wanted to be the one to perfect that system!" He whined.

* * *

 **Black Knights Submarine** _ **Isaribi**_ **, Pacific Ocean near Area 11.**

Rakshata smirked. "Hmm, looks like integrating an adjusted Gefjun disturber worked… But that float system is more advanced than _mine_." She noted. "So, I my opponent really is the Earl of Pudding… I guess." She said noncommittally. "We were collaborating _inadvertently_." Rakshata furrowed her brow in frustration. "Oh how _distasteful_." She chuckled.

* * *

 **Fukuoka Base**.

The Gawain turned to face the Lancelot as flames licked into the air around the two machines after the Black Knightmare had landed.

["Kururugi."] Lelouch began. ["Is the Lancelot still operational?"]

"Zero. I thought so…"

The Gawain held out an energy filler to the Lancelot and knelt down, the nearly three meter shorter machine staring at it, mirroring the perplexed state of its pilot.

"An… Energy filler…?" A confused Suzaku stated.

["I'm going to take out the _enemy_ command center and finish the job my troops and you started. What will _you_ do?"] Lelouch asked him.

He could almost hear the surprised 'what!?' from Sawasaki already.

Suzaku smirked and stowed the MVS blade in his machine's right hand. "Sorry Zero, but you're not going to get your wish." He said as the Lancelot took the energy filler from the Gawain. "I'm going to hit them first. _My_ way."

A sudden salvo of rapid-fire VARIS shots wiped out a trio of incoming J-12 Carrier Fighters that had been launched by the Chinese Fleet in an attempt to swat the Gawain down.

The Scathach swooped in and landed softly with a pirouette next to them, wings folding up neatly behind it in a much more compact form than the Lancelot's float pack.

[ **="Hmph, you two seem to have this well in hand, should I stay here and withhold my aid?"=** ] A harsh voice inquired, Suzaku only belatedly realizing that Liath had arrived.

Zero chuckled over his end of the line. ["The more, the merrier, Your Eminence."] He replied flippantly as the Lancelot inserted the fresh energy filler after ejecting the old one, returning to full power.

[ **="Very well then."=** ] Liath said as she aimed her VARIS rifle. [ **="Oh, and Kururugi? If I ever feel that you've become unworthy of my tutelage, I'll kill you _myself_."=**]

Suzaku grimaced and jetted forwards alongside the Scathach, the Gawain swooping over the two as C2 and Squad Seven watched and cheered before hijacking a vehicle and following in their wake.

The forces that were being thrown against them were of little consequence to the three Seventh-Gen KMFs and their pilots.

Suzaku swept through the Chinese forces, MVS blades whirring away as they sliced through waves of KMFs and Ride Armors, while Liath's VARIS and the Gawain's Hadron Cannons cut through Chinese tanks and Mechaniloids like wheat before the scythe.

Squad Seven kept any attempt to flank them from the rear from forming up, the Reploids tearing apart a group of Type 59 MBTs and their infantry escorts with brutal precision.

* * *

As they reached the command center, Sawasaki desperately tried to contact the Gawain as it melted through the exterior of the building, destroying several fixed guns before they could be deployed in the process.

["Zero! Shouldn't we be fighting _together_ , as comrades!?"] He pleaded. ["Don't you _care_ about Japan?!"]

Lelouch scoffed. "The Black Knights stand against _anyone_ who uses violence unjustly for their own selfish ends." He told the man with a smirk on his face.

["SELFISH!? I'M DOING THIS FOR JAPAN!"]

["Sawasaki!"] Suzaku said, cutting in. ["If this is all for Japan, then why did you run away to the Chinese Federation? What deal did you make with their leadership to trade Japan from one colonial power to another!?"] He demanded. ["If you _truly_ cared you'd have stayed for everyone's sake!"]

["YOU'RE STILL A CHILD!"] He yelled back at Suzaku as all three KMFs burst into the command center, passing down the grand entranceway, which was normally used for spectacles like parade assemblies and greeting dignitaries.

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Comms Room.**

Euphie smiled earnestly as she listened to the radio chatter.

" _So Lelouch and Suzaku are…"_

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Northern Kyushu Landing Site Golf.**

Cornelia sent another Tieren down with a hole through its cockpit courtesy of her EM lance while landing ships unloaded troops behind her and aircraft laden with reinforcements droned through the sky overhead, backed by escorting VTOL gunships and fighter jets.

"What?! Zero!?"

["Yes, it appears that he saved Kururugi, the two of them and Liath are assaulting the enemy HQ as we speak."] Guilford confirmed.

Cornelia glanced to the side. "Fighting on our side? What the hell is he thinking?"

* * *

 **Black Knights Submarine** _ **Isaribi**_ **, Pacific Ocean near Area 11.**

"So, his tactic was to bring in the Gawain alone after having Squad Seven sow confusion among the Chinese forces while he slipped past the Britannians." Diethard said smugly as he appraised the strategy. " _That_ was sheer brilliance."

Kallen looked down at the deck. "Maybe, but the Guren Mark Two could've acted as a shield for them… It's not like I can go home or back to school at this point either." She sighed, figuring Suzaku had reported her status as an insurgent to his superiors and thus leading to her being wanted for high treason. "After all of our battles, to be working with the Lancelot is just…"

"What's necessary here is _not_ victory." Diethard corrected her. "The Black Knights participation in this battle is an _undeniable_ truth. Of course, it will never be officially reported, but the rumors will spread, starting with the Britannian troops who mop up and moving out from there, and soon _everyone_ will know what happened here." He assured her as he turned back to the screen. "As Zero said, this will show the world _exactly_ where we stand. That protecting the nation of Japan from attack is our _first_ commitment."

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Manchuria, Chinese Federation.**

Yefreytor Ludomir Tattar leapt from the ramp of one of the new BMPs as he and his squad fanned out, sunlight glinting off his ballistic goggles as his partially condensed breath was forced out of his facemask in the cold fall air, the thunder of gunfire echoing around them as they encountered a comparatively pitiful blocking force of Chinese troops, roughly three companies against a full _division_ of Soviet Mechanized Troops backed by artillery and air support.

"Go! Sweep the enemy aside like the ants they are!" A junior officer shouted as Tanks and Knightmares rushed up to the formation of IFVs and APCs to join those already engaging the enemy forces.

As VTOL gunships and strike planes roared overhead, Ludomir felt pride swell in his chest.

"Today is the day we displace the Sick Man of the East! Onward comrades! In the name of the Motherland we shall crush them! FOR THE SOVIET UNION! **CHARGE!** " A Reploid political officer shouted from the back of a UAZ jeep as she waved them onwards.

As one, the soldiers of the Soviet Army rushed forwards with a great battle cry, rifles and machine guns blazing away at the Chinese survivors the moment they got within effective range, shocking the disoriented and comparatively ill-trained and equipped Chinese troops into inaction.

 **" _URRAAAAAAAAAAA!_ "**

* * *

 **September 31, 2017 ATB.**

 **Harbin Garrison Base, Manchuria, Chinese Federation.**

Major Yang Wen-Li looked over the tactical screens as the juggernaut of the Soviet Manchurian assault force swept south and west towards his defense zone, totally uncontested beyond a token showing by the scattered guard troops and the air force.

"Major, your orders?!" One of his subordinates asked desperately.

"Where are Colonel Zhao's troops!?" He demanded.

"Wiped out! They charged directly at the enemy and got cut down by them!" One of the subordinate officers replied in a panic.

Yang closed his eyes and frowned. "I see… Then withdraw at once, blow up anything that can be used by the enemy if you have time and can't remove it.

"But sir!"

He opened his eyes and fixed the man in a stern gaze. "We don't have a choice! I will explain to Luoyang my decision, we simply cannot hold this location against these forces!"

The men nodded at him, none wishing to die for a doomed city that had already begun fleeing the Soviet advance in droves.

"As the commander of this Garrison, I hereby declare Harbin an open city and withdraw all of my forces! Inform the Soviet Troops advancing on us and their air units of this!" He ordered as his men snapped to and did as instructed.

Yang sighed as he desperately wished for a drink. "Tsao is going to get strung up for this if he makes it back… The Eunuchs will ensure that he takes the fall for them… Just hope I don't join him..."

* * *

 **Fukuoka Command Center, Area 11.**

"What's wrong with going to another country and then waiting for the right moment to strike?" Sawasaki muttered. "It's an effective strategy and by all rights it's _exactly_ what Zero's been doing against Britannia!"

Tsao turned to him. "We can set up another defense line at Kagoshima."

Sawasaki nodded. "I appreciate your help."

Their jeep came to a halt at a helipad where a transport model C-6 VTOL was waiting.

Before either they or their driver could exit the jeep, a slash harken slammed into the craft's midsection, forcing the crew to shut down the engines lest the aircraft potentially explode.

The Lancelot hauled itself up onto the platform as the Scatchach and Gawain hovered in the air behind it.

["Sawsaki!"] Suzaku began.

["That's far enough."] Lelouch finished as the Reploids of Squad Seven appeared behind the jeep, weapons aimed at it.

"I… Impossible!" He gasped. _"They took the largest fortress in all of Kyushu with only three Knightmares and a squad of Reploids!? They hardly had to put any effort into it!"_

The two men and their driver raised their hands while the VTOL crew also surrendered, carefully clambering out of the aircraft with their arms raised.

* * *

 **October 1, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["The fighting in the Kyushu block caused by invading Chinese Federation Military Units and anti-government forces has been brought to an by Princess Cornelia's sudden attack on the enemy command center."] A newscaster announced as images associated with their narrative, which stated the official government line, played on screen. ["Atsushi Sawasaki and four members of the former Japanese Government were arrested. While over half the Chinese Federation Troops were captured as well."]

["In response to this incident, the Chinese Federation's leaders are asserting that General Tsao of the Liaodong military district was operating on his own initiative and used forged orders to draw troops from across for his unauthorized invasion and are therefore demanding the withdrawal of _all_ Soviet forces from Chinese Federation territory, the release and return of all prisoners of war and articles of military equipment and supplies taken by both the Red Army and Britannia in accordance with the Tibet Convention, and reparations for all equipment, supplies, and vessels destroyed or damaged in combat."]

* * *

 **October 1, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Lieutenant Kururugi, reporting for duty." Suzaku announced as he half-bowed before Euphie while Prince Schneizel reported in to the Emperor alongside Liath aboard the _Avalon_.

"Welcome back home, Suzaku." Euphie said with a smile on her face.

Suzaku let his surprise show briefly before smiling softly.

With the _Avalon_ moored in the distance as a backdrop, both stood there, waiting for the other to speak the next word.

"Uh… I…!" They said at once.

Euphie giggled at their awkwardness, causing Suzaku to begin laughing as well.

"Suzaku." Euphie said at last. "I finally understand my heart. It's not that I expect an ideal country or perfect justice or anything complicated like that." She admitted. "I just want to see people smiling, that's all."

She looked back up at him. "The smiles of the people I love now and the people I loved before as well." She stepped towards him and held out her pin, offering it to him. "Will you help me? Will you be my _Knight_? _Major_ Kururugi?" She asked earnestly.

Suzaku looked back up at her. "I will, Your Highness." He replied as he gently took her hand in his, accepting his role as her Knight once more.

* * *

 **October 1, 2017 ATB.**

 **Imperial Memorial Park, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 walked past the Imperial Memorial park's lake with X, both in their civilian modes, the two Reploids glancing up at the decommissioned F-109A Foxhound atop its display pole mounting as they passed it.

"It's so... Peaceful..." X whispered as the two Reploids watched a group of ducks take flight from the water after being disturbed by a small hornet-like Mechaniloid. "To think that so recently all of this was under serious threat of invasion..."

"Yeah." C2 replied as she slid a little closer to him, a blush on her face.

X smiled earnestly at her. "So, you feeling better than when I last saw you?" He asked.

"A bit."

He ruffled her hair, causing her ear antenna to fold back in embarrassment. "That's good to hear."

They stopped and sat down on a bench, C2 sighing as she leaned against X. "I wish we could stay like this forever..." She whispered.

"But... Time moves on... And..."

"Things change..." She finished for him, remembering Lelouch's plans to seize Tokyo before the month was out and force Britannia to recognize Japan as a sovereign state.

The odds were long, but if Lelouch could get Schneizel or the Emperor to meet Zero face to face as a result, then his Geass would handle the rest.

The wind whispered softly as the sat there with X, enjoying the moment with him.

She wasn't sure if she'd ever get another one like this for a long time.

If ever again depending on how the die of fate was cast.

* * *

 **October 1, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch sipped his tea and read the official spin on the Kyushu 'incident' with some toast, bacon and a plate of pancakes sitting before him as Sayoko walked in.

"Master Lelouch, where is C2?" She inquired, having noted that the Reploid was absent when she'd went to clean the room where her diagnostic rack was kept.

"She went out." He replied.

"Oh… With who?"

"X." He replied flatly.

"To where might I ask, you do have class today and-"

"She went out on another date, besides I can handle the workload myself for the moment regardless Sayoko."

"If you believe so master Lelouch." The maid replied before turning and walking out.

"A romantic stroll, I would've thought she'd been impulsive enough to drag him off to a love hotel." Nemo said from where she'd been standing.

"Hmph, of course _you'd_ say that. Still, I'm not sure what occurred on that Island, but she appears to be in a better mood than previously." Lelouch observed.

"Getting laid might do wonders for _your_ attitude as well." The blonde immortal noted with a smirk.

"Please, I don't need any unnecessary distractions. And I was never implying C2 did _that_ either." He scoffed derisively. "Can Reploids even _have_ intercourse?"

"Not in the same way humans do methinks." Nemo mused, causing Lelouch to roll his eyes and sip his tea again.

Nemo shrugged and walked off, leaving Lelouch to his breakfast alone and to stew in his own thoughts.

* * *

 **AN: So I noticed something interesting when rewatching episode 20, when Euphemia implores Suzaku in a nearly energy depleted Lancelot to live, the live command flickers briefly but fades, a possible but subtle indicator that he had** _ **zero**_ **chance of survival if Lelouch hadn't rescued him. Which means that the command analyzes what Suzaku has to work with and compels him to use whatever method offers the** _ **highest**_ **chance of self-survival.**

 **Which explains a lot about what happened in the Second Battle of Tokyo as the Lancelot couldn't outrun _or_ outfight the Guren Seiten, despite Lloyd imploring him to retreat as he was getting absolutely thrashed by it.**

 **Also as for the Soviet's initial assault on the Chinese being similar to the Japan trailer for Red Alert 3, the similarity was totally unintentional on my part as I hadn't even _seen_ the trailer before, it's more or less actually inspired by the likely opening moves of WWIII in Europe IRL, where Soviet and Warsaw Pact units would stream over the East-West German border in _hordes_ during the first wave of attacks.**

 **Which typically falls under the en-masse assault trope, although calling it a trope isn't really justified since it's common in major wars.**


	23. Stage 23: Autumn Festivities

**AN: Final stretch incoming.**

* * *

 **October 1, 2017 ATB.**

 **Imperial Park, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 blinked an eye open as dusk peered over the park where she and X had gone into sleep mode.

"Mrgh... What time is it..." She grumbled as X stirred as well.

Checking her internal clock, she sighed. "I guess all good things come to an end..."

X sighed in argeement as he stretched. "I need to get ready for my next patrol shift..." He groaned as he stood up.

"And I... Have my own concerns..." C2 stated carefully in case of eavesdropping.

"We could do this again sometime." X suggested.

She smiled at him. "I'd like that."

* * *

 **October 3, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Cell Hideout, Unknown Location, Area 11.**

C2 bodily slammed into the wall, Rokusho gesturing for her to come at him as she got back up.

"Again!" He shouted at her as she swapped to the Sword Man set and prepped her blade, letting out a battle cry as she lunged at him.

And was easily sidestepped, sending her plowing into another wall. "You're too predictable! Too reliant on these abilities to make up for your lack of training, experience and practice!" The seasoned gladiator snapped at her as his shawl settled.

She got back up shakily as Tamaki and Kallen watched from a raised area nearby.

"Geez, he's ripping her apart…" Tamaki mumbled as C2 swapped to the Yamato Man data set and lunged at Rokusho with her spear, only to be stopped dead in her tracks.

"Well, he's a gladiator by trade and manufacture, and by all things considered she does need this… Everyone she's fought so far has either not taken her seriously, been totally outmatched, or taken off-guard by her, eventually she'll run out of tricks and then she's out of luck." Kallen sighed as Rokusho brutally smashed key points on C2's limbs, causing her to collapse.

Tamaki winced as he watched. "Better to get beaten up by an ally than beaten down by an actual opponent I guess…"

"Experience is one of the greatest teachers one can have." Todoh noted as he walked up with a pair of Kendo swords. "It's just a matter of seeing the lessons it gives."

C2 switched to the Torch Man mode and flung a fist out, only to be flipped over the KWG-type Reploid without remorse.

"And the lesson here is…?" Tamaki asked, waving his hand about in hope of an answer.

"To not be so cocksure in your abilities that you walk straight into defeat." Todoh replied sagely as C2 was hurled into the wall for the umpteenth time and slowly peeled off due to gravity, leaving a distinct outline crater in it.

" _That_ had to hurt…" Kallen winced.

"Good thing Reploids can't really feel pain..." Tamaki hissed under his breath.

"They can, however it's more or less an internal alarm that warns them of damage, just not in the same way human nerves do." Kallen informed him, Tamaki giving her a look. "What!? I actually paid attention in class!" She huffed.

Shakily, the Reploid got back up before collapsing to her knees again.

Rokusho walked over to her and offered a hand. "What did you learn today…?"

"That simply attacking and attacking won't work…" She admitted after a few moments as he helped her up, her self repair systems doing their best to repair the damage she'd taken, but were clearly struggling.

"Indeed, I was surprised how poorly you fared in a straight up fight, as you'd always performed excellently in the field, and that's when I realized that all your actions were unconventional, targeting opponents who were unused to someone who had no playbook of their own. All you do is attack or bait and withdraw, rarely defending or evading beyond your first engagement with Vile."

"And where did I fail…?" She asked after getting her footing back.

"By failing to defend or evade, you leave yourself open repeatedly to attack, against a trained opponent who's aware of your tactics, or lack thereof, you'd be lucky to walk away with a draw. At least, not without further training. Additionally you responded to feints too readily, allowing me to gauge your defenses, which, again, were totally nonexistent."

C2 sighed. "Yeah, I guess so… Might as well have Rakshata patch me up then before I get beaten to scrap again."

Rokusho nodded as she limped off before glancing over at Todoh. "Ah, Colonel, you're just in time for your sparring session!" He noted as Todoh acknowledged him with a nod of his own.

"With who?" Kallen inquired, only to have a Kendo training sword shoved in her arms along with a set of sparring robes.

"With you, now change." He ordered sharply.

"But…"

"If you wish to know how Suzaku fights and thinks, then this is one of the few ways you can learn even a little bit how to counter him." Todoh informed her as he walked off to go change himself.

Kallen gulped.

* * *

 **October 3, 2017 ATB.**

 **Unknown Location, Shinjuku Ghetto, Area 11.**

Lelouch walked down the hall to a room where several key members of the JLF remnants and other insurgent groups in Area 11 were waiting for him, flanked by C2, whom had been freshly repaired after her second brawl with Rokusho.

"So, our objective is to get as many of them onboard as possible." She repeated, hoping to get it confirmed.

Lelouch nodded at her as he inspected his mask. "Of course, just let _me_ handle the negotiations though." He said as he slid the mask on and it locked into place. ="Otherwise we might alienate some of them."=

She rolled her eyes at him, knowing his attempt at a joke was rather half-assed at best. "Right… Just don't get cocky in there." She stated as he chuckled.

="C2, there isn't a person on Earth who can defeat me."= He jested.

* * *

 **October 7, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement Area 11.**

" _I'm certainly eating those words now… Aren't I…"_ He thought as he and Suzaku worked on several assignments they'd missed.

"Yes, it _is_ true that the invasion by the Chinese Federation and the terrorism of the Black Knights _has_ disrupted our society." The teacher snapped at him as she continued her ranting. "But _that_ is a completely separate issue! The fact remains that you've _both_ been absent from class far too often!"

Lelouch resisted the urge to use his Geass on this annoying woman, as barring a group of soldiers dragging her off at gunpoint for holding a Royal's Knight, or because Liath felt like it for some reason, there was little that could alleviate his irritation without bringing undue suspicion on himself.

"I don't _care_ how good your grades are, or that you're Princess Euphemia's Knight and that the Executrix herself trained you! If you don't improve, you _will_ repeat this year!" The woman snapped at them.

Lelouch sighed, figuring that the other teachers were standing out in the hall, hoping at some point to go home.

* * *

 **October 8, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Submarine** _ **Isaribi**_ **, Pacific Ocean near Tokyo Bay.**

"So, opinions in the Ghettos are split?" Ohgi asked as he and several other core Black Knights met in the hangar of the submarine.

"Some are submissive, some are defiant, most are still on the fence about Suzaku." Minami confirmed.

"But they'll _all_ be shocked when they find out Zero's planning to start an independent nation." Sugiyama noted hopefully.

"Yeah, right, that's totally crazy!" Yoshida agreed ecstatically.

"We need to be _realistic_." Minami stated in disagreement.

Tamaki opened his eyes. "I agree with Zero." He said, breaking the uncharacteristic silence he'd held.

Everyone looked at him in shock, surprised that he'd be the first to sign up with it wholeheartedly.

"Well, isn't it true? If we stick with him, we might catch a _huge_ lucky break." He observed as he looked up. "Maybe I'll even get to fulfill my dream of being a bureaucrat."

Kallen was doubly shocked by that. "A _bureaucrat_? Seriously?" She asked, stunned that _Tamaki_ of all people would have such a simple goal in life.

Tamaki looked at her. "Hey, even _I_ had a dream once. If I hadn't joined up with Naoto and then later the Black Knights, I'd probably be hooked on refrain by now!"

Kallen winced visibly while Ohgi realized he could possibly figure out what Viletta knew using refrain.

" _But… All of the military info she has is likely to be outdated by now… And what the hell would I do with Zero's identity? Everyone would be at my throat, suspecting me of being a traitor…"_ He realized as he relaxed a bit.

"Ohgi?" Kallen asked as she stepped up to him. "On that _other_ issue, we wanted to ask for instructions, but we haven't been able to reach Zero or Q2." She stated.

"Then I'll just go ahead as planned." He replied to Kallen.

"I'm telling you, don't. It's a trap." Tamaki warned him.

Kallen turned to face Tamaki. "But we need more inside sources, they also said there's someone there who wants to join us." She told him. "Anyway, tomorrow is the only way we'll be able to use the escape route Diethard set up for us."

* * *

 **October 9, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Fireworks exploded over the campus to announce the opening of the annual Ashford school festival.

["Ladies and Gentlemen, and Reploids of course! Thank you all for waiting!"] Milly announced over the PA system. ["The Ashford School Festival, which is the most all-inclusive event in the entire Tokyo Settlement, is about to start!"]

["It will begin at the sound of _this_ voice!"] Milly announced before there was a brief pause as she talked to Nunnally.

["MEEEOOOWWW!"] The girl shouted over the PA system, much to the cheers of the students and faculty, and the confusion of those who'd just shown up.

* * *

 **October 9, 2017 ATB**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Nemo sat up in bed as another round of fireworks exploded, the immortal rubbing her eyes and blowing a stand of blond hair out of her face.

"The school's really noisy today…" She grumbled as she clutched her cheese-chan plush close as her blood-red eyes finally opened.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The campus was abuzz with activity as various student groups and clubs held booths of various kinds which were visited by humans and Reploids alike.

"Welcome, step right up!" One student offered.

"Get your Britannian Rolls!" Another announced

"See the shocking expose: "The Zero Report!"" A press club member chattered away.

"Photos! Photos of Prince Clovis!"

"Serve your country! Enlist in the Royal Army today!" A Britannian recruiter announced.

"Soar like an eagle! Join the Royal Air Force!"

"See the world! Join the Royal Navy!"

"Be among the finest men and women in the military, join the Royal Marines!"

C2 walked past them ignoring the frantic and admittedly half-assed recruiting prattle, most likely in an attempt to meet overdue monthly quotas from September. She paused briefly as she spotted a guy in a suit resembling elements the Lancelot mixed with Suzaku's pilot suit doing poses for a bunch of confused students, and admiring fangirls.

" _Is this that Bionic-suit Lancelot thing that someone started?"_ She thought as she walked past and headed up to where Lelouch was waiting for her.

* * *

"So, that's what I thought, even Sawasaki and the others proved to be useful after all. We've covered all the tasks at hand correct?" He replied to Diethard over the phone.

["Yes. We gathered all the sector data on the emergency countermeasures that they left behind."]

Lelouch spotted a Hi-TV crew walking up to cover the event and ducked behind the railing in the off chance he got seen on camera.

["We've identified the solar panel arrays used in each settlement in addition to the energy storage sites."] Diethard continued, unaware. ["Oh, and what about that collaborator issue?"]

"I've handled most of it myself." Lelouch replied, having used his Geass numerous times in preparation, much to C2's chagrin. "About 72 percent is complete. And Todoh?"

["He's drawing up a list of occupation targets: Broadcasting stations and the such."] Diethard confirmed. ["I need you to check them, including the dummy plans we're sending to Kyoto."]

"I understand, I'll confirm tomorrow." Lelouch acknowledged as C2 walked up to him, he knew that she was staying her tongue as she'd assessed their chances at below ten percent with their current battle strength unless a decisive knockout blow was achieved against the entire enemy command structure in Area 11, discounting Chinese and/or Soviet intervention of course. "What about Kusukabe?"

["He reports that the latest groups have passed training with flying colors, and ahead of schedule to boot. Although the new combat pilots we're training are complaining about a lack of actual flying hours due to security concerns."]

Lelouch smirked. "Tell them it's unfortunate but necessary."

["Oh, and I know we're late reporting this to you, but regarding the operation of the Zero squad, Ohgi has…"] Diethard began before Milly ran up, interrupting Lelouch.

"There's trouble! There's huge, huge trouble!" She shouted.

"Relay the info to Q2 for me, I'll have to contact you later." Lelouch said as he handed the phone off to the Reploid before being dragged off, leaving C2 standing there.

When they were gone she raised it up to her 'ear'. "This is Q2, Diethard, you still there?"

["Affirmative."]

"What was that about the Zero squad?" She asked.

["Ah, right, they're going according to the mission plan."] Diethard confirmed.

"Roger, is that all?"

["Yes, I believe so."]

"Very well then, contact me if anything else comes up, Zero will likely be indisposed for a while."

["Very well then."] Diethard acknowledged as they both hung up, C2 walking off.

* * *

"What're you doing goofing off like that!" Milly grumbled as she led Lelouch along.

"Everything is running fine." He countered. "There's no problems. Besides, you're taking charge of _that_ part right?" He asked her. "It was only _two_ meters wide up to last year, and then suddenly, for no apparent reason, you just had to declare we needed a twelve-meter pizza!"

"Uh-huh! Isn't it great?" She replied. "It's gonna be the largest one of it's kind in the _world_!"

"Just the oven and the ingredients are causing an uproar." Lelouch stated with mild irritation. "And now there's a _TV crew_ running around campus, you _know_ Nunnally and I can't show our faces!"

"But we have to document making the Pizza! You can just run things from the control booth, okay?" She said at him with a smile. "President's orders!"

Lelouch sighed as a crane moved more ingredients over to where Rivalz was directing it.

* * *

C2 ambled along the Campus with X, having picked up several items from various booths as they walked.

"Do you honestly need all those?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well, you saw all those displays, besides the Air Force recruiter was handing out little stress ball Skyfangs, god knows Lelouch could use them given how Milly drives him up a wall." She pointed out.

X conceded that to her. "Say, you wanna go check the mecha club out?" He asked her, getting a nod in return as they passed one of the School's Prydwyn units standing on display, the sports Knightmare Frame gleaming in the sunlight.

"I'd love to, but I have to be working the horror house right about now." She replied. "Milly really wants to have a 'killer robot' this year and decided I could roam from room to room using secret entrances."

X chuckled softly. "Were this anything else I'd say that's not funny."

"I know right? Anyways see ya in a bit!" C2 told him as she strode off.

"Later."

* * *

Ohgi and Chigusa walked down the sidewalk to the front gate of the school.

"Sorry." He apologized to her. "But an Eleven from the Ghetto walking around alone would be-"

"It's alright." Chigusa replied as they walked along, the woman wearing the sundress and hat Ohgi had purchased for her.

"If you're afraid that some Britannians would uh…"

"You needn't worry about me so much." She said as she stopped to admire a butterfly. "I'm okay, really."

She put her hand out, the insect landing on it and flapping gently. "Anyway, is this really going to help your work?" She asked.

"Yes. I can gather data for our development project." Ohgi lied as he turned to face her.

Chigusa smiled warmly at him. "I understand. That's good, then."

He smiled back. _"What the hell am I doing… She's a member of the purebloods… And yet… Maybe if circumstances had been different…"_ He thought, nixing the possibility of handing her over to either law enforcement or medical services as the possibility of him being ID'd as a Black Knight and causing a chain of implications would be unwise as they continued walking.

As they walked up to the gate, he hesitated. _"Even so, I can't just kill her…"_

He glanced over at the school. "Here we are." He said as he gazed at the campus.

"Is something wrong?" Chigusa asked him, confused by his intent gaze.

Ohgi looked at her, his face softening. "No, I used to be a student teacher, hoping to become an actual school teacher. So I was feeling a little nostalgic." He explained.

"Why did you stop teaching?"

"My best friend since we were little kids… Well, he's since passed on." Ohgi closed his eyes. "You could say I'm living out his dream in his place." Ohgi chuckled. "It's kind of a heavy thing for me to carry around."

She took his arm and jerked him towards the gate. "Let's go in!"

Ohgi blinked and gasped. "No! I can't go into a Britannian school! I'm an Eleven!" He protested as a group of Ashford students rushed over.

"That doesn't matter!" One of the girls giggled.

"The campus is open today! Come on!" Another said as she dragged Chigusa in, followed by a confused Ohgi.

"Yeah, in you go you two!" The male student chuckled.

"Wha!? Hey! I found them first!" The blue haired female student protested.

* * *

From afar, an off-duty Jeremiah Gottwald glanced over at the gate and frowned.

"Was that Viletta…? No… She's dead… It couldn't have been her… Probably someone else." He said dismissively.

And with that he walked off, headed back to barracks.

* * *

In the Kitchen, Suzaku put his kendo skills to good use, chopping onions seemingly as fast as a gunpowder machine gun ejected bullet casings.

Behind him, Kallen strode up, knife already out since Suzaku had a blade of his own at hand.

"That's a relief." He said, despite not even seeing her, having recognized her footfalls. "I thought you were never going to come back to school."

Kallen frowned, now quite confused, none of the military recruiters had said anything about her, nor had the few Maverick Hunters patrolling around on campus.

"It's on _purpose_?!" She asked, bewildered by this from mister 'follow the rules' Suzaku of all people. "Why didn't you tell anyone!? About who I really am?"

Suzaku shut off the faucet of the sink and stood up straight. "You're Kallen _Stadtfeld_ right now, aren't you?" He asked as he turned to face her. "Not Kallen _Kozuki_ , right?"

That caused Kallen some degree of concern, nevertheless she relaxed a bit. "Are you trying to draw me in by acting friendly?" She questioned, wary of his intentions.

"On the battlefield I won't show any mercy." Suzaku assured her. "But I want to try to persuade you here. I know this is against the rules and I'd probably be executed for aiding and abetting a traitor if it got out… But while we're at school, I'd rather try to change your mind here than defeat you in combat later." He explained.

Kallen gasped, noting his change in attitude, how upbeat he was compared to his normal self. "Something's different about you…" She muttered as the door slid open, revealing Lelouch.

"Suzaku, the truck's here, the cheese-" He froze when he saw Kallen. _"I see… So this is what's happening…"_

"You came back." He whispered.

"Uh yeah." Kallen replied, putting on her sickly façade. "I'm not as sick now, so…"

Suzaku stepped forwards. "Kallen, what we were talking about has nothing to do with school okay?" Suzaku said with an even tone in his voice.

"Yeah, I get it." She said, giving him a bored glare.

Lelouch smiled, realizing that at the very least, Suzaku was still Suzaku.

"Kallen… If you don't mind, could you go check in with your class?" Lelouch asked her as another round of fireworks went off. "They seem to be a bit shorthanded."

"Sure… I don't mind."

* * *

 **October 9, 2017 ATB.**

 **Improvised Haunted House, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"I DOO MIIIINNNDDD!" Kallen shrieked as she shot up in her angry tombstone costume, scaring the hell out of two hapless students, who ran away screaming.

Kallen's arms fell limp as she sighed. "This thing _actually_ scares them…?" She grumbled as she clenched her fists and let her rage flow. "Ugh, I'm gonna get Lelouch for this! He should've told me I _had_ to be part of the horror house."

She slowly began to lie down again, hiding herself from view. "Hmph… The only person I let order me around is Zero…" Kallen grumbled, unaware that the two were one in the same.

She watched the screen, which showed two generic dots in the maze, one a triangle, one a circle.

"Oh great, another couple already." She groused as she prepared herself. "Why couldn't they make this whole thing mechanical…?! They've got this dumb screen!" She growled as she began to sweat again. "It's _sweltering_ in here. Just like those stupid early Glasgows without the AC units! Come on, move your asses, hurry!"

They reached the ambush point, causing Kallen to lurch from her hiding place. "HURRY, MOVE YOUR ASS!" She screamed as she clawed at the passers by, scaring the shit out of Ohgi and Chigusa.

She then realized who it was. "Ohgi…?"

Ohgi opened an eye, spotting Kallen and relaxed slightly while Chigusa continued cowering. "You're back safe…?" He asked.

"Fortunately yes…" Kallen replied, realizing how awkward this was.

And then a pink monoeye flared behind Ohgi.

 **="EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!** _ **EXTEEERRRRMIIIIINAAAATE!**_ **"=** An ominous figure shouted in a shrill tone as a pair of drills whirred angrily, causing Ohgi to scream again and run off with an equally terrified Chigusa in tow.

Kallen glanced over at C2 as she stopped and began laughing inside her costume. = **"Oh man this is** _ **hilarious**_ **!"=**

Kallen simply sighed. "At least you're having fun…"

She'd go chase them down after she finished her shift.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

A blond-haired student who resembled Lloyd popped his head out of the empty case of the 'bop a student' 'machine' as Cecile giggled seemingly innocently and bapped him on the head with a toy mallet.

Behind her stood several of ASEEC's human and Reploid techs, whom had finally lost interest in the guy in the Bionic Suit Lancelot costume behind them. "School festivals are such fun! I feel so free!" She said before giggling again, now in a bit more disturbing manner as the hapless student popped his head out again, Cecile smacking him again and again for his unfortunate resemblance to her boss.

"The one she keeps whacking… Doesn't he look like Lloyd?" One of the men asked another.

"No great wonder, working so close with that guy must really drive her out of her mind…" The other replied as Cecile kept hammering away while the other students in the machine looked on in concern.

* * *

"Right, the Pizza's starting later." Lelouch confirmed over the phone as someone in a lizard costume walked by.

He assumed Milly allowed this to up the chaos for her own amusement

He hung up with a huff. "I definitely _don't_ have time to be doing this…" He grumbled, figuring he had to ditch Ashford before the next major event came up and he'd be swamped again.

It honestly pained him to do so, but he couldn't juggle his numerous responsibilities at this juncture due to the crushing weight of the rebellion on his schedule.

He picked up the next phone. "Yes? Oh, the drama club? I've spoken to the film club about it." He said before hanging up.

" _How can I prepare my coup d'etat?"_ He thought before the mallet Cecile had been using smacked him on the head and bounced off.

"I'm sorry!" Cecile cried out as she got the thing. "The handle just broke in two!" She apologized while two paramedic Reploids rushed past Lelouch in the direction of the 'bop a student' game.

" _Soldiers enjoying some liberty? How_ peaceful _the world is…"_ He thought cynically before realizing that she was wearing an ASEEC uniform and not a regular military one.

"Say…" Cecile said as she recognized him. "Aren't you Suzaku's friend."

Someone interrupted him before he could reply. "Hey! You! Boy!" A voice that sounded all too familiar said, getting his attention. "Where am I supposed to go to eat the biggest Pizza in the world?"

He clenched his fists and turned around, expecting Nemo or god forbid C2.

Instead, there was a young woman with long bright green hair, that certainly wasn't regulation length, and yellow eyes standing there, wearing a Britannian military service uniform and field cap, specifically one from Liath's own 501st Division. "What's with that look? Did I do something to offend you?" She asked, Lelouch being unable to shake the vague sense of familiarity about her before chalking it up to her resemblance to C2 and Nemo.

"Sorry." Lelouch apologized. "I thought you were someone else. It's right over there." He said as he pointed in the general direction of the oven. "You can't miss it."

The woman nodded. "Thank you." She replied as she walked off.

Lelouch frowned as he contemplated her appearance more thoroughly. _"That can't be the girl I saw in those… Dreamscapes… Can it?"_

Then he remembered Mao, and how he kept going on about an… Original… And how C2 and Nemo were apparently 'fakes'.

Alarmed, Lelouch scanned around for the young woman only to see that'd she'd already vanished.

Far too quickly for his liking given the relatively thin state of the crowd here, and especially since there was a clear path to the pizza 'kitchen', indicating someone well practiced at disappearing when they wished to.

" _This_ can't _be a coincidence…"_ Lelouch thought grimly.

Coincidences were one of several things in this world he believed didn't exist, not when it came to things like this.

* * *

 **October 9, 2017 ATB**

 **Viceroy's Palace Parade Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"An impressive feat mustering them from Area 18 in one night." Schneizel noted as Cornelia's personal troops stood at attention behind her. "Your forces are most impressive Cornelia."

"You flatter me. I'm honored that you deployed your regular troops to fill in for them Schneizel." She replied.

"It was the _least_ I could do." He said, mentally noting that his troops weren't necessary in Portugal, Euro-Britannia he mentally corrected himself, at the moment as Maximilian had that upcoming front handled alongside the troops of the new Chivalric orders of the satellite state in addition to the Euro-Britannian army.

"The Glaston Knights joined us from the homeland as you are aware, in addition to their Lionel units we have several more of the type and the command model Bors series, both of which will begin replacing the Gloucesters in use with my Royal Guard as soon as possible, several of these will also be fitted with Sattel Waffen launchers to act as fire support units."

"I understand, and I'm going to play this card in my negotiations over the Korean Peninsula with the Chinese Federation, whom don't even have Fifth Gen units to work with as of yet."

"Please do." She said.

"What a great honor. Being asked for assistance by Princess Cornelia." Schneizel said, noting that it was rare for his half-sister to even _consider_ requesting aid from anyone. "Who is _unmatched_ on the battlefield by all except General, Colonel, and Liath."

"Please don't tease me about this." She whispered.

"But I'm sincere. On the field of combat you shine more beautifully than any flower or butterfly at a soiree. Yes, like the Flash herself." He praised, causing Guilford and Colonel to blink in confusion while Cornelia glanced away, flustered.

"Please, stop saying that…" Cornelia pleaded uncharacteristically nervously, not wishing to be compared to Marianne after letting her die on her watch. "You know I'm only… Now where could Euphie have disappeared too…? I told her I was coming to see you off."

"I had already had a long talk with her last night." Schneizel informed her.

"Last night?"

"Yes, about a rather interesting proposition she had. Ah, and about the other matter? Bartley's projects?"

"Oh yes, I really don't mind." Cornelia said, somewhat distracted thanks to Schneizel's smooth talking. "But will they really be of any use to us?"

"I certainly believe so."

* * *

 **October 9, 2017 ATB.**

 **Unknown location, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Rows of inactive Reploids bearing a more than passing resemblance to C2 stood at attention, their cyclopean sensors dimmed as they awaited activation.

* * *

And in the same facility as them, a tank filled with orange fluid bubbled and boiled as Colonel Madd and the irregulars watched the insensate form of Kewell Soresi float inside it while Bartley and several technicians monitored his vitals.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch sighed in exasperation as he glared down at Nemo, whom was sitting on the floor in what the Japanese knew as a wariza position, having caught her rifling through the building where all the ingredients for the Pizza were being stored after returning.

"I'm only asking about the biggest Pizza in the world…" Nemo grumbled as Lelouch frowned further.

"I'll bring you some later, now go back and wait in your room!" He snapped at her.

"I don't believe you because you're a liar." She huffed at him.

Lelouch's eye twitched. "What reason do I have to deceive you over a damn _pizza_? The military _and_ the press are here! What if they see you?"

"It's not like anyone's seen my face aside from Suzaku." She retorted. "If it bothers you that much I'll wear a disguise over this school uniform, I hate cold pizza and reheating it is an affront to my tastes."

Of all the days for Nemo to be difficult, it just _had_ to be today.

"Right now I have both a school festival and a coup d'état to run!" He snapped back before being interrupted by the door opening, both looking over to see Kallen dragging Ohgi and Chigusa in.

"Why did you come into the school?" Kallen inquired as they entered.

"Oh, that's my fault." Chigusa said sheepishly.

"Who _are_ you anyway?" Kallen asked, narrowing her eyes. "You're definitely _not_ an Eleven. What's your name?"

Chigusa turned to Ohgi for clarification as to whether or not she should say anything.

"This is my… Uh… She's my…" Ohgi said, stuttering as he hesitated again, not quite sure what he and the amnesiac Viletta were.

"Kallen!" Lelouch barked. "Authorized personnel only! Could you get them out of here now?" He demanded as he strode over, Kallen pushing the two away.

And that's when he saw Ohgi and Viletta. _"Ohgi!? What's he doing here and with_ her _no less!?"_

* * *

Elsewhere, a disguised Euphie and two of her Royal Guards walked along one of the campus's many paths.

"I'm really sorry." She apologized. "But there's something I really want to talk to Suzaku about." She told them, remembering how Schneizel had approved her plan and said he'd work it over with Cornelia.

There was a gut feeling that her brother might be manipulating things from the sidelines to make it seem like this was her being spur of the moment impulsive, but she ignored it.

"It's all right your highness." The Guardswoman on her left replied, her male partner remaining silent.

She smiled softly. _"Suzaku… My brother actually approved my idea… Now we can…"_

She bumped into someone, gasping in surprise.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention! Are you okay?" Euphie asked as she glanced over, seeing Nunnally and a concerned looking Sayoko next to her, both of the Royal Guards mid-way through reaching for their sidearms holstered in their jackets.

"I'm fine, are you okay?" Nunnally asked, causing Euphie to jolt in shock.

"Nunnally?" She gasped, causing her guards to relax slightly, Sayoko keeping a wary eye on them.

Nunnally cocked her head. "Huh? That voice… Is it you?" She asked, not aware that Euphie knew that she and Lelouch were still alive already.

* * *

Back in the storage building Kallen and Lelouch stared eachother down.

" _This is bad… He's seen Ohgi now…"_

" _This is bad… If they see me here with Nemo…"_

And then another door opened.

Suzaku strode in while Shirley followed, still talking. "A propane tank for the burner?" She asked as she followed the boy in. "I'm sure the spare ones are here, maybe in the back?"

" _Well… That's just_ great _…"_ Lelouch thought as he quickly vanished.

Shirley noticed Kallen standing there, the redhead relaxing upon seeing her. "Kallen?"

"Oh, hello, what's up?" She asked as she made sure that Chigusa and Ohgi were out of sight, while it was fine for Shirley to see them, Suzaku was an entirely different matter.

Shirley strode towards her. "Are there any spare fuel tanks in the back there? Rivalz needs one for the Pizza."

"Oh, okay." Suzaku acknowledged.

"Can this get _any_ more annoying…" Lelouch grumbled as Nemo slid over from behind a stack of crates.

"You can use your Geass, can't you?" She asked as he picked up his trusty remote detonator.

"It'd be dangerous to use it on Ohgi, and unless amnesia undoes my earlier Geass, I can't use it on Viletta." He whispered back. "And the only other person here I _haven't_ used it on is Shirley." He hissed under his breath.

Nemo put the smuggest look possible on her face. "Well it's your own fault then for using it so freely." She snipped at him.

"Your comments are _not_ helping!" He snapped back at her.

"Is that Lelouch?" Shirley asked.

" _Shit…"_ He knew Shirley was probably irritated about him not involving her with the coup beyond checking logistics, but with Suzaku present…

"There's something important that I want to ask you about." The ginger said as she strode forwards, Suzaku following her.

"Find a way to get out of here… _Fast_." Lelouch instructed Nemo, knowing that Suzaku had seen her in the presence of Zero before, and her being so close to him would blow his cover entirely. "Shirley? Can it wait?" He said as he got up after closing the plastic toolbox.

"I'm going to create a diversion." She whispered to Ohgi, more or less to keep Lelouch and Suzaku off of them. "Use it to get away."

"What're you talking about!?" Shirley replied to Lelouch's idle prattle. "You're never around when we need you in the first place!"

Of course she knew _why_ he wasn't around, but she couldn't say as much around Suzaku for obvious reasons.

Kallen shrieked suddenly as she looked up and to the side, catching their attention while she cut the strap holding some heat-resistant panels up. "THE PANELS ARE FALLING!"

Shirley, caught off-guard, screamed as she froze up.

" _CRAP CRAP CRAP! I MIGHT ACTUALLY KILL SHIRLEY!"_ Kallen realized in horror. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! RUN AWAY!" She yelled as she ran forwards while Lelouch hit the trigger on his remote detonator, setting off a series of smokescreens for Nemo, and inadvertently Ohgi and Chigusa, to escape in the chaos.

* * *

C2 walked up to the warehouse with X after making a round of the campus following her shift in the haunted house ending, hearing a loud crash as pinkish smoke billowed from the building.

"The fuck?" She whispered as she and X stopped before rushing over to see what happened.

* * *

The scene inside was one of utter chaos, the Reploids sweeping their internal lights around only adding to it.

"Uh, I… Thank you…" Shirley whispered as she looked up at Kallen, whom had tackled her away from danger.

"I'm just glad you're okay…" The redhead replied before looking around. "But where did all this smoke come from?"

"It must be a fire suppression system, looks like the main valve for the gas supply got hit when the panels fell." Lelouch coughed as he and Suzaku held up one of the panels.

"Never mind that… Can someone help me please…" Suzaku pleaded as C2 and X rushed over, the two Reploids holding the panels up while Lelouch sighed in relief. "I'm in a little pain here!"

Kallen turned to face him. "What's the matter."

"It's my ankle." Suzaku admitted. "And it's a very _familiar_ feeling."

X and C2 tracked their vision down to where Suzaku's ankles where.

Sure enough, Arthur had dug his teeth into the hapless boy's ankle.

* * *

Underneath a tree not far from the building, Ohgi and Chigusa caught their breath.

"Sorry you got caught up in all that weirdness…" Ohgi apologized.

"No, it was actually sort of… Fun!" She replied. "I haven't felt this excited in a long time!"

Ohgi stood up and looked sternly at her. "I think it's better that you move out of Area 11 for now. Whoever shot you wouldn't come after you… You should be safe." He stated, hoping that by doing so, if her memories returned she'd be in the least useful position to Britannia should the Black Rebellion not have occurred by then.

"Y'know Ohgi… I wonder if the person I used to be was as happy as I am now…" She said softly.

Ohgi frowned, he didn't exactly know _who_ Viletta Nu was as a person, but clearly she might not be the type to be sociable with others given that she'd been shot. "So, uh… Can you tell me what you were going to say, back there at the school?"

"Uh…" Ohgi grunted. _"ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!"_

"You started with "she's my…" She's my what?" Chigusa asked him.

"Well you see…" Ohgi began, slowly realizing that he had fallen for him, but currently had forgotten that _she_ was _his_ enemy.

"I really… Don't think I'd mind becoming an Eleven." She admitted, much to his shock.

" _There's no way Chigusa and Viletta Nu could ever be the same person… Could there…?"_ He wondered as he contemplated what she'd just said.

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Will you keep our secret…? I mean about Lelouch and I being here?" Nunnally asked as she and Euphie drank tea in private, neither Sayoko nor Euphie's guards being present.

"But if you just stay here like this…"

"All I want is to be with my brother." Nunnally stated calmly. "That's all that matters."

Euphie blinked as she processed this, knowing that Lelouch was willing to take on the entire Holy Britannian Empire for _her_ and Nunnally didn't even _care_ that much about anything grand like world peace or reformed societies.

All she wanted was to live happily with Lelouch for as long as she could.

Euphie took another sip of tea as Nunnally spoke up again. "Do you remember that time you and I got into a great big argument? On which of us was to marry Lelouch when we got older?" Nunnally asked, causing Euphie to nearly have a spit-take.

"Yes I do." Euphie said with a smile, they'd been so naively innocent back then, it was the kind of argument that children would have, not knowing any better. "We put Lelouch on the spot by making him decide right then and there!"

"Yeah, too bad he accidentally pointed at Marrybell!" Nunnally giggled, Euphie joining in on the laughter.

"So, how 'bout now?" Nunnally asked innocently. "Do you still love him? Even to this day?"

Euphie stopped, having been rendered speechless, genuinely wondering if Nunnally even understood exactly what kind of question she'd just asked.

* * *

Outside, Sayoko and Euphie's guards stared eachother down boredly.

* * *

["ALRIGHT! ANY MOMENT NOW!"] Rivalz announced from atop the massive open air oven as smoke hissed out from around him. ["We are about to begin the historic task of making the world's largest Pizza!"]

The crowd cheered and clapped with joy.

["Please note that this contraption I'm perched atop is an oven specially built just for this very task! A _fabulous_ waste of money!"] He said, getting a good dig in at Milly's lavish and eccentric habits in the process.

* * *

Inside the control booth Lelouch sighed. "Yes Shirley, I promise I'll make time to talk to you about your part later. Right now, just send group B to the stage to help. Right." And with that, he hung up and relaxed in his chair.

" _Hmph… This feels so_ easy _. If I make a mistake here, no-one's life is on the line… Unless the oven explodes or something. But that would be someone else's fault then."_ He thought as the door opened.

"Not bad." Milly appraised as she stepped in. "Got everything on schedule huh?"

He turned slightly to look at her. "I've learned how to manage people lately." He replied before smiling softly. "Still, they seem so optimistic don't they?" He asked her. "The Chinese Federation attacked just a week ago, yet look at everyone." He said as the cameras panned over the student body of Ashford, all smiling happily as they watched the event progress.

"That's _why_ we need this." Milly clarified as she leaned on his chair. "Festivals are necessary. For everyone, all the time. You still need to learn a bit more."

Lelouch chuckled goodnaturedly. "Okay, lesson learned."

"Lelouch?" Nunnally asked.

"Nunnally, how's the event been for yo-" He began before freezing up as he spotted Euphie standing behind Nunnally's wheelchair instead of Sayoko.

Lelouch stood up and bolted from the control room. "Sorry! I need a second! Call me if anything happens!" He apologized as he left a confused Milly in his wake.

* * *

["It looks like all the ingredients are prepared!"] Rivalz announced as he rappelled down from the spire of the oven. ["Now, introducing our special dough tosser! The Ashford Family Ganymede!"] He shouted as he tore off the tarp covering the third gen Knightmare, the crowd cheering as it moved and flexed a bit. ["Yes it's a bit of an antique, but at it's controls is the student council special's member, and Princess Euphemia's personal Knight! Major Suzaku Kururugi!"]

The crowd cheered again.

"Listen… Is that because of…?" Kallen whispered to Sayoko as she and the maid each held a massive cable.

"Yes. There are lots of Elevens who came here today." She stated. "It's an open festival after all, and this _is_ Suzaku's school."

"So they came to see him?" Kallen whispered.

"Yes, Suzaku's like a ray of hope to many Elevens. They _revere_ him, the young man who became a Knight to Britannian royalty."

"I see…" Kallen breathed, thankful that Lelouch had stopped her attempt at assassinating him, otherwise it'd have tanked the Black Knights in public standing.

* * *

C2 and X watched from afar as Suzaku tossed the dough into the air, the Reploid salivating a bit as she watched.

"Remind me to treat you to gourmet Pizza after this." X joked as it was tossed for a second time.

["And again! Can he get it any larger folks?"] Rivalz asked the crowd. ["Come on Sir Suzaku! We've got high hopes for you!"] He shouted as the Ganymede began spinning the dough.

"Easy girl, you're going to drool a river and wash away the crowd." Zero joked as he walked up with Iris in tow.

"Zero! When did you get here?!" X asked, his partner still in full armor due to his lack of a civilian mode.

"I've been here for a while, Iris called me to go on a date." Zero replied as they watched.

They stayed that way for a while, watching the spectacle from the sidelines before a decently strong gust of wind blew.

"Is that Princess Euphemia?!" Shirley gasped from afar, before she realized exactly _what_ the words that had come out of her mouth had done.

The crowd began to chatter loudly, distracting Rivalz and Suzaku and causing the Pizza to end up in a tree, much to C2's, and Nemo's, horror.

"No… Not the Pizza…" She gasped as Zero and Iris rushed off, the former chasing after the latter.

X sighed and patted the upset Reploid on the back.

* * *

The green haired woman in the 501st uniform clicked her tongue as she gestured for a squad to move up after spending a second to mourn for the Pizza, a dozen white and blue armored men and women carrying assault rifles trooping past her from a pair of trucks that had been parked nearby, heading to Euphie's aid. She clicked her radio next. "Deploy the R1 units. One platoon should suffice for crowd control."

* * *

Gunshots rang out as the ASEEC staff tried to hold back the crowd alongside Euphie's bodyguards by firing into the air, only to have the media press in as well, causing them to surge forwards.

The clatter of voices had become indistinct as everyone demanded that Euphie acknowledge them, especially poor hapless Nina, trapped in the middle of the crowd.

"Your highness! Fall back! We have this under control!" A 501st Soldier shouted as the crowd moved back slightly in response to their presence, the white and blue armored soldiers aiming their rifles at the mass.

"Don't shoot them please!" Euphie pleaded, well aware of Liath's preferred ROE when it came to unruly crowds at times.

"You needn't worry!" The man replied as CV-47 VTOL transport thundered over Ashford, kicking up a cloud of dirt and grass as it hovered over the crowd, the rear ramp dropping and dispensing thirty-six identical Reploids in pairs, the slim, lanky machines scanning about as they raised their fixed arm-mounted repeating buster cannons and caused the crowd to stumble back out of fear.

[BKZHHT! HZZHHKT HKKHT VVHRKHT CHHKT VRRKHHT!] The lead machine screeched in a buzzing static as the cyclopean sensor in its tubular head pinged like a factsphere while the blade antennae on either side of its cranium flicked up in alarm. [CHHRRT FHHKT! REEKHT GHHKAT BHRRK!]

The other machines joined it in their heavily encoded, almost alien, tongue, chattering orders that the crowd couldn't understand.

* * *

X's eyes widened as he stared at them, noting that their design was all too familiar.

"C2… I think… We should go…" He whispered.

C2, frozen stiff, only imperceptibly nodded as the crowd was forced back by the swarm of military Reploids that had been released, mostly terrified by the inhuman machines.

X grabbed her arm and dragged her away before anyone could see her and possibly put two and two together.

* * *

Diethard stepped out of the Hi-TV truck and frowned. "You don't say? Already? If you've escaped on your own, I'd say that's excellent, deputy commander." He replied to Ohgi over the phone. "We'll stay right here. Right!" He said before hanging up.

He glanced over at the person next to him. "Looks like we wasted the equipment space inside the news van." He said as Sayoko stepped up. "There's no need for the captain of the Zero squad to escape now either."

"I'd like you to continue to stay undercover here in the settlement and gather intel, apparently the Britannians were hiding things we didn't even consider existed under our noses, like those mass production new model Reploids." He informed her. "I'll introduce you to Zero later on, hopefully after things settle down."

"I understand." The ninja-maid acknowledged.

* * *

"Oh wow…" Rivalz gasped as Suzaku moved the Ganymede over for Euphie to perch on its hand, the machine's arm rising into the sky as the soldiers and R1 Reploids formed a cordon between it and the crowd.

"Princess Euphemia! You're not hurt are you!?" Suzaku asked, concerned for her well-being.

"I'm fine! Thank you Suzaku!" She said as she turned to face him.

* * *

Lelouch frowned as he huddled behind a crepe stand with Nunnally, X, and C2.

"Are you okay Nunnally?" He asked his sister as he made sure the cameras weren't watching while X tended to the near-catatonic C2, whom was still reeling from the implications that her structural design had been used without her consent and felt _quite_ violated because of that.

"Yes, how 'bout Euphemia?" Nunnally asked.

"She's alright, Suzaku's taking care of her and the military's set up a cordon to keep the crowd away." He confirmed.

"I see…" Nunnally acknowledged before she perked up slightly. "Lelouch, guess what!"

Lelouch cocked his head.

"Euphie said she and Suzaku are becoming very close now."

Lelouch gasped in shock as C2 jerked her head up in surprise, smacking it against a cabinet, X wincing as C2 recoiled back down.

"They make a nice couple… Don't you agree?" She asked as she looked down sheepishly.

"Nunally… You…" He gasped, realizing that she'd spoken to Euphie in more depth than he'd thought.

He turned to face the Ganymede, glaring at it, or more specifically, the pink haired girl perched on its hand.

* * *

Euphie scanned about the crowd, finally spotting Lelouch hidden with Nunnally.

" _Thank heavens, they're alright."_ She thought, glad that they managed to evade detection by the media.

"Princess Euphemia! Down here! Can I get a statement please!?" One of the reporters asked.

"Yes, but first, you must network this broadcast nationwide, internationally if you wish."

The woman's eyes widened in shock. _"This wasn't part of Diethard's plan…!"_ She realized.

"You mean… Go live now!?" The reporter asked nervously.

"Euphie?" Suzaku murmured, confused.

"I have a _very_ important announcement!" She stated clearly and calmly.

* * *

Inside the van, Diethard furrowed his brow.

* * *

 **October 9, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Hangar, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Guilford rushed over to Cornelia as she inspected her new customized Bors unit, which was replacing her tired Gloucester.

"Your Highness! It's Princess Euphemia!" He shouted, catching her attention.

"What's she doing _now_ …" Cornelia sighed in exasperation with her sister's antics.

* * *

 **October 9, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["And we go live to our special broadcast."] The newscaster announced as Todoh walked up to the TV while everyone waited, watching with rapt attention.

["I am Euphemia! Sub-viceroy of Area 11 of the Holy Britannian Empire."] Euphie declared as she stood atop the Ganymede's hand. ["There's something of great consequence that I _must_ tell you all today!"] She stated as Rakshata and Rokusho walked up behind Todoh, also interested.

"I wonder what it could be?" The silver Reploid murmured, his red optics narrowing.

"Now what?" Rakshata grumbled. "This little girl always makes such a fuss."

Little did Rakshata know, that the fuss Euphie created today would send shockwaves throughout the Empire.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"I, Euphemia li Britannia, with the blessing of the Prime Minister, Schneizel el Britannia, hereby declare the formation of the _Specially Administrated Zone of_ _ **Japan**_ , in the area surrounding Mt Fuji!" She declared.

* * *

"What!? Britannia has!?" Lelouch gasped in shock as C2 shot to her feet and peeked out the stand as well in surprise, X yelping slightly and jumping back a bit.

* * *

"They're recognizing Japan!?" Suzaku breathed, stunned that Prince Schneizel would sign onto this.

* * *

"DAMNIT!" Diethard grunted as he slammed his fist on the console of the broadcast van. "I never anticipated this scheme! Even though it's in a limited area...!"

* * *

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Rakshata dropped her pipe as the room stared at the TV screen in dumbfounded silence.

"Well... Now what...?" A dumbfounded Tamaki asked, being the first to find his voice.

* * *

 **October 9, 2017 ATB.**

 **JS** _ **Kasagi**_ **, West Pacific Ocean.**

Mari Hiryuu shot to her feet after a junior officer barged into the officer's lounge of the _Kasagi_ to inform her of Euphemia's announcement. "That pink haired brat said **_what_**!?" She shouted as she and the highest-ranking officers from the other ships in the fleet, plus one of Marty's representatives, stared at the messenger in shock.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy Grounds, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Within the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan, Elevens will _legally_ be allowed to call themselves _Japanese_." Euphie declared as Kallen gazed on in both awe and horror. "Restrictions for Elevens and Special Rights for Britannians will no longer exist within this zone! It will be a place where Elevens and Britannians, human and Reploid alike, live side by side as _equals_!" Euphie said earnestly.

* * *

" _Euphie! Stop this! I've already thought through every detail of that scenario on the off-chance it could work! It's nothing but an_ empty _dream!"_ Lelouch thought angrily, knowing that the nobility and groups like the Purebloods would stop at nothing to sink her overly idealistic dream with every bureaucratic trick in the book. Nor would the SAZ be allowed to expand or multiply either as it would pose a threat to Britannia's hegemony.

* * *

"Do you hear me. Zero!?" She asked, Lelouch's eyes widening as he realized she was addressing _him_. "I don't care about your past, nor who you are underneath that mask! I beg of you! Join us in creating this special zone of freedom!" She pleaded.

* * *

The green haired woman shook her head and walked away. "So naïve…" She whispered under her breath as she adjusted her service cap.

* * *

"Zero! Help me build a new future within Britannia! A place for _everyone_!" Euphie implored directly to Lelouch.

Much of the crowd began cheering while some began gossiping about Euphie's reasons for declaring it now of all times, with some suspecting it's because she was in love with Suzaku.

* * *

" _I'm_ finished _!"_ Lelouch thought grimly. _"Either way I go the Black Knights will break apart, even if I can keep as much of it as I can together, I'll lose control of most of the cell structure!"_

And then it dawned upon him.

 _The only way to keep to the schedule... Is to make Zero into a rallying cry..._ " He realized, knowing that it was one of his two sole viable options at this point.

He was simply too angry to think straight enough to contemplate the possibility that working with Euphie would garner the Black Knights significant amounts of support, especially if the Britannians, or elements of their government, began to stymie the SAZ.

Nunnally gently placed a hand on Lelouch's, helping calm him down a little.

" _Yes… That's what I'll do..."_ He thought as his mind began to whir like clockwork. _"You understand_ nothing _Euphemia… Nothing! I am the man who hides my face behind a mask to work for a better future, what Schneizel is doing is nothing but a way to stomp your dreams into the ground! The past is dead and gone, and it can_ NEVER _be the way it was again! You_ must _learn this, Euphemia!"_

* * *

 **October 9, 2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Regional HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Sigma chuckled as he watched the broadcast. "Well, that was quite a surprise... Let's see what happens when the shock fades…" He whispered as he began drawing up a list of hunters for the SAZ detachment as was protocol, lingering on X's profile briefly.

There as a knock at the door.

"Enter."

Storm Eagle marched into his office and snapped to attention.

"At ease."

Storm Eagle relaxed and folded his arms behind the small of his back. "Sir! We're ready to deploy the new Hawk Ride Armors in our latest raid on Maverick operations around the settlement! With your permission of course!" The commander of the 7th Air Cavalry stated.

Sigma nodded at him. "Very well then, you're clear to use them. Good hunting Storm Eagle." He wished the other Reploid as they saluted.

"Thank you sir!" He said as he turned and walked out of the office.

Once he was gone, Sigma grinned madly. "Good hunting indeed…" He purred.

* * *

 **AN: Yeah, the R1s are pretty heavily inspired by the Pantheons from the Mega Man Zero series. With Death Trooper type voice encoding for how they speak under most conditions.**

 **Also the Bors (*Cough* Lancelot Club *Cough*) appears at last, this time a custom unit meant for Cornelia specifically that's roughly based on the changes made to her personal Gloucester.**

 **Guilford will also be getting one so no Vincent for him, since it would be a downgrade effectively.**

 **As for Green hair, she's _exactly_ who you'd think she is. I have been explicitly hinting and stating she's still around.**

 **Also, overdue Sigma moment.**


	24. Stage 24: Sweet Bloodstained Euphie

**"Erst kommt Stolz | Dann kommt dein Land | Steine sind Steine | Alle an die Wand."-And One, _Steine sind steine._**

* * *

 **October 10, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"About this… 'Specially Administrated Zone of Japan'…" One of the various ministers began to his colleagues. "There's been some _unpleasant_ rumors about Princess Euphemia.

"It must be due to the Kamine Island matter." The Vice Minister noted as he stood at the far end of the room. "You think she was in contact with Zero there?" He asked the others.

"I suspect there's a connection here that goes all the way to the top." The sole female minister in the room replied.

"There's no connection I can see." The Vice Minister said flatly. "The Viceroy wasn't the only one asking what was going on, it appears Prince Schneizel did this without consulting most of the government, catching Kyoto unawares."

"But in any case, our connections with them need to be…"

"Mm… Right, we'll have to sever ties with them at once."

The door suddenly hissed open, revealing Darlton, Bartley, and Colonel standing in the doorway. "I'm afraid it's too late for that Vice Minister." Darlton stated, stunning the assembled officials. "All the evidence has already been gathered, Vice Minister." The man said smugly. "Namely that NAC profit sharing bribe."

"I greatly appreciate this General Darlton." Bartley thanked him. "With this… With this we can _finally_ sweep away the parasites who were sucking Prince Clovis dry!" He then chuckled. "There were more rats than I expected. And all of them are confused by Princess Euphemia's proposed Special Zone aren't they?"

Colonel made a gesture with his arm. "Arrest them!" He barked harshly as a squad of Repliforce troopers rushed into the room, weapons raised and shouting orders to the officials, whom all threw their arms up in surrender.

* * *

 **October 10, 2017 ATB.**

 **Future Site of SAZ, Japan.**

The G-1 _Princess Nunnally_ rumbled up to an opening in a refurbished event stadium at the foot of Mt Fuji before coming to a halt, construction work rapidly progressing for the grand opening of the SAZ, which would be inaugurated at this arena.

Suzaku glanced at Euphie with a smile. "Over two hundred _t_ _housand_ people have already applied to join the Japan Special Administrative Zone." He said happily. "The way things look, that number's set to grow dramatically."

Euphie turned to him. "Thanks to you Suzaku."

"Huh?"

"Because of what you represent to the Japanese people, everyone is rallying. They _believe_ in what we're doing here." She stated.

Suzaku smiled softly. "You're giving me too much credit. It must be due to your proclamation Princess." He replied humbly. "I'm truly thankful for this… I really am."

"Just as I'm thankful to you." She glanced at him again. "And I hope that you're going to help me with everything that's still to come."

"Yes, your-"

"Not like that." Euphie interrupted with a pout.

Suzaku froze briefly but then smiled. "Yes."

She giggled earnestly at him. Unaware of how badly her plans had rattled Lelouch's.

* * *

 **October 10, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["The Specially Administrated Zone of Japan is the first attempt of its kind in Britannia, and was personally proposed by Her Highness, Princess Euphemia."] A newscaster explained while various individuals went about their day, Nunnally and Sayoko listening to the radio in the dining room. ["The inspiration for this unique concept was taken from her school years, and it has not only caught the Homeland's attention, by that of the world at large as well, with many Reploids notably calling for cities of their own, independent of human populations. Additionally, according to a government release, tomorrow's inauguration will also be broadcast worldwide."] The newswoman confirmed as she continued reading off her script.

* * *

 **October 10, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Basement, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Nina frowned as she listened to the broadcast from where she was curled up next to the Ganymede. "If Princess Euphemia thinks it's a good idea… Then even I have to…" The bespectacled girl mumbled to herself.

* * *

 **October 10, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["The NAC, led by Kirihara industries, has offered its wholehearted support for the plan."] The newswoman continued as Lelouch glared up at the screen, despite Kirihara telling him he had little choice given public outflow of support for the SAZ being so high even before Kyoto threw its weight behind the plan, he was still quite pissed about the whole affair.

* * *

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["Euphie really _is_ amazing isn't she?"] Schneizel asked Cornelia as they conversed over a video-call. ["Now the terrorist groups in Area 11 will lose their Popular support and fall apart, while the Black Knights and the Remnants of the JLF will be forced to support the plan in order to maintain their legitimacy, and thus be subject to disarmament treaties."] He noted. ["Public order will be stabilized, and at a far lesser cost in both blood and treasure than simply subjugating the entire archipelago."]

"I _personally_ oppose this." Cornelia told him.

["But, since you understand the situation, you've sent Darlton and Colonel to advise her, have you not?"] Schneizel inquired.

Cornelia narrowed her eyes slightly. "Only to ensure public policy stays on track." She responded. "It's a measure that a _Viceroy_ would obviously take." She stated, subtly challenging Schneizel.

["Hmm… Did you approve the future plans as the Viceroy… Or as her older sister?"]

Cornelia's visage softened slightly at that statement.

* * *

 **October 10, 2017 ATB.**

 **Kirihara Shrine, Kyoto Settlement, Area 11.**

Five of the six leading members of the Kyoto group, including Sumeragi at her typical position outside, were meeting to discuss the SAZ.

"The Japan special zone doesn't sound _that_ bad." Munakata mused as the four present leaders sat around a pot of incense over a lit flame.

"A shadow of Japan that's given to us out of pity is worthless…" Kubouin replied bitterly. "I _refuse_ to take part in this farce and will be heading out to join Hiryuu's fleet later tonight in protest of your decision Kirihara." He declared, causing Kaguya's lips to twitch upwards almost imperceptibly, noting that someone shared her sentiments on the matter.

"Feel free to do so." Kirihara replied. "But we were granted this concession by the Britannians as a result of our Resistance efforts." The man noted, thinking that was likely the reason the Second Prince agreed to sponsor the effort. "That said, I do not trust it to last very long, the nobility will do all in its power to stifle the SAZ, up to and including outright sabotage and the riling up of purist elements in the Britannian population in the nearby areas."

"So, even with the rumors of you being given a high-ranking position in the SAZ…" Osakabe whispered.

"Yes… we'll continue to support the Black Knights and what remains of the JLF in secret if we are able too, call it a gut feeling but something tells me tomorrow will not end well." The elderly man mumbled as he remembered blood splattered on the walls of an arena, faint but vivid, too vivid for his liking. "Still, we must make an appearance at the ceremony, we'll just explain that you had business elsewhere Kubouin."

The other man nodded begrudgingly.

From her spot outside, Kaguya breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing that Kirihara still supported the long-term goals of Zero.

Whether _Zero_ would see it that way was another matter.

* * *

 **October 10, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Yokohama Port Concession, Area 11.**

"The situation is serious." Todoh began as most of the command staff of the Black Knights met. "It's not just supporters in the civilian population, some members within our own ranks have already applied to join the SAZ."

Diethard frowned as well. "Unlike the Black Knights, there's no notable risk involved with signing up for the Special Zone."

"Besides, when you compare the pedigreed Princess with the mysterious unknown man behind a mask, it's obvious which one exudes more appeal to the average person." Rakshata noted somewhat sarcastically.

"There's a rumor that Kyoto is cooperating with them too." Minami added.

Rokusho glanced up at him. "I've heard those rumors as well, some of them say that it's mostly for appearances sake." The KWG type Reploid noted.

"What's up with that!?" Tamaki grumbled loudly.

"They're offering _equality_ that's what." Sugiyama replied.

"Equality my _ass_! Don't just accept their word for it!" Kallen said heatedly. "Even if that bubblegum haired ditz _is_ telling the truth, you think most of the peerage and royalty is just going to stand by and watch while she sets back **decades** of Britannian supremacy over the numbers?!"

Sugiyama nodded at her, if anyone present aside from Rakshata, and maybe Q2, knew what the worst of the Britannian nobility was like, it was Kallen.

"I agree." Asahina spoke up. "But unless we decide how to respond to this quickly, then we risk fragmenting at the seams."

Ohgi opened his eyes, having been deep in thought about what Chigusa said about the SAZ. "Why don't we support it?" He asked, catching C2's attention, the Reploid having been silent for the most part. "Listen, if it goes like Euphemia's proposal, would it be wrong for the Black Knights to support the SAZ, at least until we find out how stable it really is?" He offered.

"You heard Kallen! The Britannians will start sabotaging it from day one!" Tamaki retorted. "Hell, the Purists _barely_ let Areas 3 and 5 become core sectors of the Empire and that was because the Flare party had to make serious concessions on military spending and who knows what else to them!"

"Still, it might be our best bet to keep the Black Knights from fragmenting totally!" Ohgi stated. "It doesn't contradict what Zero said does it? And if the SAZ collapses we can just blame Britannia and return to the status quo!"

"But Ohgi that's-" Kallen began before Chiba cut her off.

"First off, by agreeing to peace on their terms we'd be forced to disarm, possibly handing over much of our equipment to the Britannians or a third party to keep ahold of." The woman noted.

"That _is_ a problem isn't it?" Rakshata sighed, knowing that her beloved Gurens and Gekkas might be handed off to Asplund alongside the Gawain as a result.

"We'll also get swallowed up in their trackless bureaucracy and lose our independence." Todoh noted dryly.

"On the other hand, if we don't support it at least tacitly, then _we're_ the opponents of equality and freedom." Diethard warned them.

"Then I say let's support it." C2 said from across the room, catching their combined attention.

"What? Without any guarantees in place?"

The Reploid shook her head. "We'd need some basic concerns addressed, and I'll leave that to Zero, but we can make the main group of the Black Knights into the SAZ's internal police force, I know Captain Goto and much of Fourth Company were once well-regarded officers in the Tokyo Metro Police Force." She stated. "We get some reasonable concessions out of the Britannians regarding our weapons as well, retaining our infantry arms and uniforms, alongside a number of Burais, APCs, helicopters, armored cars and other vehicles that'll be used for internal security. Everyone else will go to ground and lay low, continuing training and drilling while hiding the vast bulk of our equipment until the SAZ begins to crumble, at which point we'll enact our _original_ plan and strike while the iron is hot."

Diethard raised an eyebrow. "Is this Zero's plan or yours?" He asked, voicing the question on everyone's minds.

C2 smirked wryly. "I may have conceived of this late at night during one of my diagnostic cycles... I'll run it by him later to see what he thinks and if anything should be adjusted."

Diethard chuckled. "Well, don't go replacing Zero any time soon."

"A one time thing isn't any indication I'm a strategist. Just a moment of insight is all." C2 admitted humbly.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Sorry for having you drop me off like this." Lelouch apologized as he tossed his helmet into the sidecar.

"Hey, you helped me go shopping after all." Rivalz replied jovially. "Besides, I heard that you were gonna go meet up with Shirley."

Lelouch smirked as he removed his violet sunglasses. "She might need me to go shopping, too." He joked.

Although in Shirley's case shopping also included Black Market weapons and supplies now.

"Britannians shouldn't be worried just because the Special Zone is starting up." Lelouch noted, finishing off the conversation they were having earlier. "It's not like their likelihoods will be threatened."

"Oh yeah, you're right about that, anyway good luck with Shirley!" Rivalz quipped at him before they heard someone cry out.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR DAMN SPECIAL ZONE! I DON'T CARE ABOUT 'SUPPORT'!" An angered Nobleman yelled as he whacked an Eleven handing out fliers with his cane, the hapless boy kneeling with his elbows on the pavement and hands behind his head as he was beaten. "I'D SOONER _DIE_ THAN SIGN THAT PIECE OF GARBAGE!" The man roared as his bodyguard stood idly by and the others handing out fliers froze up, unable to do anything.

"Ah, a Nobleman of the Purist variety, a _shining_ example of class." Rivalz remarked sarcastically.

"You think you're _equal_ to us now? You peons in the lower classes should obey your betters without any backtalk!" He snapped.

Lelouch strode forwards. "And there it is." He huffed. "The true nature of the Sub-Viceroy's naïve 'benevolence'."

"What do you want boy?" The Nobleman asked as he turned towards Lelouch, now more than a bit confused.

"Doesn't it feel _good_ to look down at others from above?" Lelouch asked rhetorically, his temper getting the better of him. "It is rather like being a _god_."

The bodyguard stepped forwards. "Hold it schoolboy, just back off."

Lelouch turned his head to look at the man. "I think you should go home right now and reconsider who you wish to be employed by, perhaps someone less self-entitled than this." He ordered as his Geass flared to life on impulse, Lelouch using it without even thinking.

The man froze as if in a trance. "You're right." He acknowledged as the Geass took hold. "Well, I'd better get going, new job isn't gonna find itself" The now former bodyguard said as he walked away.

The Nobleman sputtered. "Huh!? What did you say to him!" He demanded angrily as the Eleven boy sat up while gathering his fliers, equally confused. "Come back here at once!" He demanded of his bodyguard as Lelouch turned around, too caught in the moment to realize how he was abusing his Geass.

"What's wrong 'Sir Nobleman'?" Lelouch asked, as if talking to a child. "Confusing borrowed power with your own ability is a big mistake you know?" He remarked smarmily, and rather ironically since his Geass wasn't really his own ability either, simply a manifestation of his deepest wish given by his contract with Nemo. "Garbage like you should simply die and be thrown out where-" Lelouch clenched his left eye shut suddenly before the command could be launched, realizing something was _very wrong_ with what he was saying, particularly him doing so in such a public place surrounded by witnesses.

" _What's happening to me…!?"_

And not moment too soon as Rivalz had stepped in to break up the argument. "Mister, why don't you apologize? Whaddya say?"

The Nobleman huffed angrily. "Apologize!? You insolent little-"

"JUST GO AWAY!" Lelouch snapped, without his Geass backing his voice this time.

The Nobleman huffed again and turned around before storming off, grumbling under his breath.

"Uh, thank you very much." The kid said as he stood up, and bowed slightly.

"It was nothing." Lelouch replied with a small grin on his face.

And an unnerved chill running down his spine.

* * *

From her vantage point above, Shirley frowned. _"What was that…? Why'd the bodyguard just walk off after Lulu talked to him… And why'd he close his eye like that all of a sudden…?"_

Now both concerned and intrigued, the girl remembered something Kallen dryly remarked after she returned from Kamine Island about Suzaku claiming Zero could control minds.

She hadn't believed it at the time, but combined with how… Esoteric... Nemo was, and the unusual behavior of certain individuals who'd encountered Zero 'face to face'…

Including Suzaku after he went berserk on Shikane.

Add in Lelouch's own determination to defeat Britannia with any means at his disposal…

" _Oh Lulu… Was this what C2 was so angry about back at Narita…?"_ She thought, even more concerned now, especially since she had no idea what he'd intended to use this mysterious power on her for.

Although given what had happened at the time, it was very probable that he'd simply have attempted to make her forget he was Zero, as he'd had plenty of time to do whatever to Suzaku and it was only at Shikane where something changed as far as she could tell.

Though… That didn't explain why she'd seen him talking to Princess Euphemia yesterday…

But digging too deep could land her in serious trouble, as experience had shown.

* * *

 **October 10, 2017 ATB.**

 **Mt Fuji Mines, Area 11.**

"So, the NAC, or as the terrorists you support call it, the Six Houses of Kyoto." Darlton remarked as he spoke with Kirihara after cornering the old man.

Suffice to say the latter had been expecting him once his contacts in the palace had gone dark, or rather he'd been expecting Liath and her stormtroopers. "Tomorrow, after the ceremony, why don't you dissolve your group and leave mount Fuji to us." Darlton 'suggested'. "We can talk about a legal agreement and a pardon if you hand over the mining operations to us peacefully."

Kirihara stared up at the much taller man, knowing he now had few precious options, as unlike Sumeragi and Kobouin he didn't have massive shell companies in India, the EU, and Australia from which to draw wealth from.

"Of course, that will mean the effective end of your material support to the Black Knights and what remains of the JLF and the other insurgent groups… Whether Zero comes tomorrow or not doesn't matter. With this, that man's downfall is _assured_."

" _So… I was the fool all along… Wasn't I…"_

* * *

 **October 10, 2017 ATB.**

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Shirley discreetly followed Lelouch into the residential wing of the clubhouse building where he, C2, Nemo, and Nunnally stayed.

She waited until Lelouch walked into the dining room and shut the door behind him, hearing him converse with Nunnally about her.

Quickly she pattered past the door, knowing only Sayoko would likely notice, but would recognize her footsteps and say nothing.

She paused in front of C2's 'room' and gently knocked on the door.

It hissed open, the Reploid raising an eyebrow at the ginger. "Shirley…?"

She clapped her hand over C2's mouth and pushed her back into the storage closet-sized room, incidentally it _was_ a storage closet under previous circumstances, shutting the door behind her.

"Listen, C2… What's up with Lulu?" She whispered. "And don't hide anything from me, I want to know the truth."

C2 feigned surprise. "What… What're you talking about?"

"I know that Lulu has some kind of supernatural power that can control minds! There's no other reason I know of that you'd have been so upset at him given your history and what Prince Clovis did to you!" She hissed.

 _That_ caught C2 off guard. "How…"

"I saw him talk to some Nobleman's bodyguard, and after that the man just walked off for no reason! People don't do that by themselves and Lulu _isn't_ that good at smooth talking otherwise he'd be able to talk himself out of a lot of the Prez's antics!"

C2 hissed. " _Shit_ … He's abusing it again isn't he…"

"Abusing what?!"

C2 glanced around, noting that she'd disabled the camera and mic Lelouch had placed in the room some time ago and had plainly told him to not replace them or she'd break his legs and tell Nunnally he was peeping. "Lelouch… Acquired a power known as Geass shortly before I joined his cause…"

"Geese?"

"No… Geass" C2 corrected.

"Gay-ass?" The Ginger asked, still confused by the pronunciation.

"Gee-ahs!" The Reploid snapped, now pronouncing it more clearly this time.

"Oh… Well, what does it do…?" She whispered.

"It… Depends on the individual as far as I know… Lelouch's allows him to make anyone obey any command he gives but only _once_ , although when I say _any_ command, I _mean_ any command. His first use of it was to make every human soldier in one of Clovis's Royal guard infantry squads commit _suicide._ "

Shirley stared at her in horror. "Wait… Did…" She said, realizing the connection now.

"Yeah… Mao had Geass too, his could allow him to break down the barriers between his mind and others and glimpse inside their thoughts… Although apparently he lost control of it…"

"And it drove him crazy didn't it."

C2 nodded. "Nemo's said a couple times that the Power of the King isolates one from the rest of mankind…"

"I figured she was involved…" Shirley sighed. "So… What happens if Lulu can't shut off his power like that Mao guy?" She asked nervously.

"Well… Lelouch's Geass requires direct eye contact through unobstructed air or clear transparent material to work, so… He'd either have to wear a mask or shades when speaking to anyone for the rest of his life or give everyone he meets a one-shot trivial Geassing to waste the command." C2 theorized. "It's why the Black Knights all have tinted visors as part of their service uniforms and tinted goggles in their combat uniforms, so he doesn't _accidentally_ Geass them."

Shirley gulped nervously. "And… If he does lose control of his Geass?"

"Pray to god he doesn't say something exceedingly stupid to someone capable of making the command a reality without realizing it." The Reploid said forebodingly.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["We're bringing you live coverage from the stadium where the inaugural ceremony will be held for the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan."] A newscaster announced as VTOLs flitted about over the arena, one of them providing live coverage for the Hi-TV news station. ["They place is already packed with Elevens… Sorry I mean Japanese."] The woman corrected herself as the camera panned over the filled stadium, Britannian troops, Repliforce units and most of Euphie's newly formed Royal Guard standing at attention. ["And those who cannot get in are gathered eagerly outside the venue."]

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **SAZ stadium, Japan.**

Kirihara remained stonefaced as he sat next to the new Vice Minister of Area 11, in addition to Iris and Colonel of Repliforce (the latter of whom was standing due to a lack of seating suitable for his bulk), Princess Euphemia, and General Darlton while the proceedings began, the only individual missing being Zero of course.

["Leslie, do you think Zero will show up here?"] A reporter asked.

["No, and we've heard _nothing_ about it at this time."]

* * *

 **October 11, 1962 AD/2017 ATB.**

 **Kremlin Congress Building, Moscow, USSR.**

The Presidium of the Central Committee watched as they awaited the outcome of the SAZ inauguration.

"Do you think Zero will appear?" One of the Soviet officials asked as Khrushchev frowned.

"Perhaps, perhaps… But the real question is… Can he afford to _not_ appear?" The premier of the USSR asked in turn.

"You raise a good point sir…" Another official noted.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Forbidden Palace, Luoyang, Chinese Federation.**

"Will Zero even show up?" One of the Chinese officials chuckled as he and five colleagues met to discuss the latest round of taxes the Eunuchs had ordered while they waited for the Ceremony to begin. "I seriously doubt it… What do you think?" He asked someone over a secure comms line.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Council Building, Paris, EU.**

"If the data we have on the man is accurate, then I don't believe he will either." The speaker of the council of Forty replied to his Chinese counterpart.

* * *

 **October 11, 1962 AD/2017 ATB.**

 **Bright Hill, Canberra, Australia.**

The President of the Republic of Australia knitted his fingers in an ambassador's pose as he and his cabinet watched, waiting in earnest for Zero to make an appearance.

"Do you really think he'll show Mister President?" The Secretary of State inquired as the President of Australia leaned back in his chair.

"He has to, there's too much riding on the line for him _not_ to appear."

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **ERROR, LOCATION NOT FOUND.**

Charles zi Britannia and eight members of the Geass Order stood in C's world, waiting for the inevitable.

" _Based on the trajectory of events… It appears that some things are meant to happen…"_ He thought grimly as he and the world waited.

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

Darlton turned to Euphie. "Princess Euphemia, it's time."

Euphie nodded at him. "Right." And with that she stood glancing back sadly at the throne she'd intended for Lelouch in his guise as Zero.

And then there were gasps from the crowd, causing her to look up as well and see what they were chattering about.

Sure enough, it was the Gawain, floating in majestically.

Atop the machine, was none other than Zero, flanked by C2 in her armored form.

"Zero…" Suzaku whispered softly.

"It's Zero!" Someone shouted.

"Zero is here!"

"Oh! He came!" Euphie chirped happily.

Darlton grinned. "So, you accept that you've lost?"

Kirihara frowned. _"What are you doing boy!? I thought I would've had to carry your identity to the grave! If the people discover that Zero is a Britannian Prince it would not only end the Black Knights but put the existence of the SAZ into question as well as people would suspect it for being a farce perpetrated by the Empire from the start!"_

And then it hit him, or at least he _thought_ it did. _"Of course, I failed to see your plan until now! Work with the SAZ at first but then as it crumbles, reintroduce your plan as the only surefire way to provide the Japanese with the equality they rightly desire, absolute brilliance! But… It hinges on them never discovering your identity nonetheless."_

["Your target is Zero, if he makes _any_ suspicious moves, kill him at once."] The Guard Captain ordered.

["Yes, my lord."] The troops replied in unison.

Euphie strode forwards. "Zero! Welcome to the Specially Administrated Zone!"

="Greetings Euphemia li Britannia, I wish to request an audience with you!"=

"Just with me?" Euphie asked, confused as to why Lelouch would be doing that.

="Yes, just with you, alone."= Zero confirmed.

["Something major has happened here ladies and gentlemen! Zero has just appeared in the open, flanked by the mysterious Reploid with whom he made his debut! Under Princess Euphemia's direction, he's making his way towards the G-1!"] A newscaster announced as the Gawain hovered over the stadium wall and landed near the G-1, out of sight of the crowd but not the news cameras on the VTOLs and mechaniloids.

Or at least not before they were forced to broadcast other scenes by Britannian authorities as a security measure.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **, SAZ Airspace.**

"I'm afraid that something's going to happen." Cecile worried aloud as they watched from the bridge of the airship. "We should've gone there like I thought."

Lloyd turned to face her. "What for?" He asked. "It's not as if we had a choice in the matter, everyone said that if Lancelot or any number of Lionels or Bors were there waiting he'd never show up."

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

One of Euphie's Guards swept Zero with a metal detector, finding no weapons on him, or at least none it could detect. "He appears to be clean your Highness." The man said while his partner and Suzaku kept a stern eye on Zero, the former aiming her sidearm at the masked man.

Likewise several R-1s and Colonel watched C2, the latter glaring at the relatively cheap mass production copies of herself with unrestrained hatred.

"Then this way please!" Euphie said as she began to walk towards the G-1 before Suzaku interrupted.

"Princess Euphemia it's too dangerous for you to be alone with this man!" He pleaded. "As your Knight I request that you allow me to accompany you to ensure your safety!"

Euphie turned to Suzaku. "No, it's alright. Please, just trust me, Suzaku."

Suzaku frowned. _"I've got a_ bad _feeling about this… Like a terrible dream…"_

* * *

In the hills above and around the SAZ, the Black Knights waited, mostly to see if it was a trap by Britannia.

["Come on, how long are we supposed to hang around here?"] Tamaki grumbled over short-range laser comms.

["What, it's not enough that Zero instructed us to wait here?"] Kallen asked while Rokusho meditated atop Todoh's Gekka.

["Yeah, whatever…"] Tamaki said dismissively as he reclined in his cockpit after locking the controls down.

["Well first of all, we have to confirm the Empire's true intentions."] Ohgi noted.

["Deputy commander?"] Todoh cut in.

["Uh, yes…"]

["Zero knows their real intentions, isn't that why he told us to hide in all four cardinal directions fanning out from the arena?"]

"That's a risky assumption Colonel." Rokusho noted as the Reploid's optics flared to life.

["I agree."]

["But he's even got Diethard and Rakshata standing by, Zero is probably planning to assassinate Princess Euphemia."]

["Again, a risky assumption, Zero's in deep with no cover beyond Nemo and Q2, if Euphemia is found dead after meeting alone with Zero, then no matter of spin doctoring will make it look good for us and the public _will_ turn against the Black Knights at the drop of a hat."] Ohgi replied, pointing out the major flaw in Todoh's logic.

["I suppose so…"] Todoh admitted.

["In all likelihood we're just a contingency in case things go south, with Diethard here to spin it in our favor if the negotiations go bad."] Inoue finally theorized.

"The simplest explanation is explanation is often the most likely one." Rokusho said sagely as his optics dimmed again, the Reploid meditating once more.

* * *

Inside the G-1, Lelouch hit the master power controls for the bridge.

"Even though the cameras and mics are all shut off, you're still being extremely careful, aren't you?" She asked sadly.

="I've been in hiding for a long time." Lelouch said as he removed his mask. "Due to a _certain_ Empire I'm afraid." He said as he turned to face his half-sister.

He promptly pulled a weapon out of his mask. "This is a percussion Needle Gun made of ceramics and plastic, it _can't_ be picked up on a metal detector."

"Lelouch, you'd never shoot me, would you?" Euphie asked nervously, wondering why he'd bring the weapon at all.

"No, I wouldn't. _You'd_ be doing the shooting Euphie." He stated cryptically, confusing her.

* * *

Outside the plainclothes Royal Guards chatted idly. "Is this really alright? Leaving her alone with Zero?

"But she ordered us to…"

"Well, she can always press the emergency call button." The last guard noted.

Suzaku stared intently at the G-1's bridge, ignoring their prattle.

And then he saw that same image from Narita and Kamine, the bird in flight etched in stone.

He turned to face the Gawain as if possessed, although his attention was also tugged at by the _Morgan le Fay_ which was hovering over the SAZ alongside her sister-ship _Avalon_.

The bodyguards turned to look at Suzaku, confused.

"Why are you here…" Suzaku whispered. "What are you doing with Zero…"

* * *

Nemo frowned. "Looks like he can see me… Is this the result of our indirect contact at Narita, and what happened at Kamine island…?" She whispered softly to herself. "Or is it because he…" Her eyes widened. "If that's the case then… I need to see for myself just what she's done."

* * *

The Gawain's hatches hissed open.

* * *

"This ceremony is going to be broadcast globally and the world is going to witness you, a Britannian Princess, shoot Zero." Lelouch stated. "What do you think will happen next?" He asked.

"Rioting would break out I imagine."

"Right, Zero will become a martyr, tricked into a death trap, and instantly your popularity will crash to Earth." He said smugly.

"What kind of nonsense are you saying?" Euphie asked, confused. "You should just help us rebuild Japan!" Euphie stated.

"If you force it from up from on high you're just as bad as Clovis, nothing will change Euphie and the nobles will take every opportunity they can get to sabotage the SAZ!" He snapped at her. "Initially, I'd planned to work alongside you until the SAZ collapsed and then strike while the iron was hot, but I figured this option had less risk." He admitted, having lied to both C2 and Ohgi about his true plans after a rethinking it overnight

"After hovering near death, Zero will be met with cheers when he makes a _miraculous recovery_!" Lelouch said, a smug grin forming on his face. "Because most people don't give a _damn_ about reason but they absolutely eat up miracles."

"Now, take the gun." He ordered.

"Huh?"

"There can only be _one_ messiah you understand. And when the people realize that you're a false one they'll…" He grunted and clutched at his left eye, dropping the Zero mask, much to Euphie's shock and concern.

* * *

Outside, Nemo dropped down onto the red carpet, facing Suzaku as C2 watched apprehensively.

"I need to know one thing… Are you the…" She grunted, her left eye slamming shut and falling to her knees as her code glowed ominously. "No… He's reached… That point… This was your plan… All along… Wasn't it…" She gasped, her eyes unfocused as she clutched at the her left eye much the same way Lelouch was.

Suzaku rushed over to her. "Hey, what's wrong?!" He asked as he grabbed her by the shoulders.

"No! Don't!" C2 shouted in warning as Suzaku froze up and then fell onto his back.

"Major Kururugi!" One of the guards shouted as Colonel and C2 gazed on in horror. "What have you done to him!" They demanded.

As they grabbed at her, Nemo's code flared in self-defense. The bodyguards screamed and all fell limp.

" _Good, they're still alive… I didn't… Do what could have been done…"_ She thought, resisting the urge to vomit at the _alternative_ actions she could've taken using her code.

Actions _she_ would've taken.

" _I'll_ never _be like you!"_

 _"You're already like how I_ used _to be, foolish girl."_ Came the mental reply.

"Squad three! Engage the target!" Colonel shouted as a dozen more R1s trooped up the steps and leveled their weapons at Nemo.

"Squad! OPEN FIRE!" Colonel shouted as Nemo's eyes widened.

And then he fell limp, groaning as he shut down to prevent further damage, smoke emanating from his back as C2 turned to face Nemo while the R1 units swiveled to face her on reflex, the Green Reploid's buster steaming.

Her eyes gleamed red as the Zero virus manifested, seizing control of their systems remotely, having advanced its control of C2 in the background as she worried about Lelouch's plans.

Nemo's eyes widened further as she realized what was going on.

"Isolate, Operate… Terminate..." C2 whispered emotionlessly as she slumped to her knees and her eyes changed color, back to the normal gold, before fading, and every R1 unit around Nemo collapsed like puppets with their strings cut while popping noises indicated their processors melting down.

"Oh no…"

* * *

"Lelouch!" Euphie uttered in concern as he slapped her arms away.

"STOP IT! STOP GIVING ME YOUR PITY!" He snapped as she looked at him. "Spare me your damned charity! This is something I have to achieve on my _own_!" He snarled at her. "And so, for that! I have to stain _your_ hands with blood! EUPHEMIA LI BRITANNIA" He released the hand over his eye, unknowingly exposing Euphie to his Geass briefly.

"No! I've _renounced_ that name!" Euphie replied angrily as she got up, leaving her brother flabbergasted. "There'll probably be a formal announcement by the homeland about it any day now, but I've given up my claim to the throne." She informed a genuinely stunned Lelouch.

"But why…" He asked softly, watching his latest, most desperate and impulsive plan crumble. "It isn't because you accepted Zero as an equal is it?"

"Of course, I have to pay the price for something so selfish." Euphie admitted with a sense of being carefree. "Those are the consequences."

Lelouch looked away. "Yes, but I suppose it wasn't too difficult for you to give up, was it?" He asked. "And I suppose you did it for my sake too?"

Euphie giggled. "As conceited as you ever were, but no, I did it for Nunnally." She told him.

That threw him for a loop as Euphie turned around. "She told me herself, "all I want is to be with my brother. And that's all that matters, I want nothing more.""

"For that petty reason…?"

Euphie smiled at him. "That's right Lelouch, _that's_ how I made up my mind." She stated. "It made me stop and seriously reflect on what was _truly_ important to me in life. Do you understand now? I'm not giving up _anything_ that has significant meaning or _real_ worth to me."

"And you don't need to worry, I won't tell anyone about you." She finished, putting to ease some of his concerns.

Lelouch sighed and huffed smugly before chuckling. "And Cornelia?" He asked with more a dramatic voice than he realized was necessary.

"It's not like we'll never see eachother again, and speaking plainly, I think she'd _prefer_ I renounce my claim, it keeps me out of the crossfire when the fighting over who succeeds the Emperor begins."

"Euphie you are a fool, an _amazing_ fool." Lelouch admitted, deciding to go back with C2's suggestion and stick with the SAZ as long as was possible now that his admittedly foolhardier one was now up in flames.

Or perhaps a modified version of that plan, with the SAZ expanding over time to take all of Japan peacefully if at all possible.

He doubted that it would ever go so well of course.

" _Perhaps, it could work now."_

"I know I'm not as smart as you Lelouch, I know that I'm not able to beat you at games of strategy or at studies, however-"

"However, in your usual rash 'Euphie' fashion, you've managed to end up winning all of it." He said with a genuine smile on his face. "When I think of you I don't visualize a sub-viceroy or a Princess. I only see the plain little Euphie who you used to be."

She offered her hand to Lelouch. "Then will you join plain little Euphie and help her?" She asked.

Lelouch frowned, leaving a short pause before he spoke again. "You are truly the _worst_ opponent I have ever faced…" He admitted as he took her hand and shook it. _"Truly, the man who said the master swordsman should be wary of the novice was correct."_

"You win." He admitted, stunning her now.

"I did actually draw up plans to aid the Special Zone as long as possible before bailing as it inevitably collapsed prior to brooding too deeply about what else I could do, and several of my subordinates had more thoroughly fleshed out versions as well... It'll take some modifications but I think I can make them work still."

Euphie giggled happily.

"But I _won't_ be your subordinate alright?" He requested.

"Alright… but you don't have very much faith in me do you?" She asked. "Did you honestly believe that by threatening me that I'd shoot you just like that?"

Lelouch frowned softly. "Oh no, you've got it all wrong. When I really want people to follow my orders, they cannot resist me." He claimed. "Whether it's to shoot me, to release Suzaku, or… Any order at all."

"Oh now you're being melodramatic and silly!"

"I'm serious!" He said as he turned to look at her. "For example, if I told you to kill all the Japanese, it wouldn't matter how you felt about it."

Euphie gasped sharply as Lelouch's Geass forced its way into her mind, his half-sister recoiling away from him.

"No! Don't make me do it… Please!" She pleaded as she tried to fight the command. "I'm not…!"

Lelouch breathed in sharply as what was occurring dawned upon him.

"I'm not… I'm not going to do it! Please!" Euphie cried as spasmed and clutched at her arms.

She fell to her knees. "I don't want to _kill_ them!"

"No!" Euphie sobbed as Lelouch's eyes opened as wide as physically possible in sheer horror.

" _Did I!?"_

Then Euphie finally lost her battle and looked up. "You're right…" She said, eerily calmly. "I have to kill _all_ the Japanese…" She mumbled.

" _I've become like Mao! I can't control my Geass!"_ Lelouch realized all too horrifically late.

"Forget the order I just gave you!" Lelouch said, hoping his Geass was still issuing commands. "Euphie!" He pleaded as she grabbed the needle gun off the floor where he'd dropped it and then got up, running from the G-1's bridge.

"Wait! Euphie! Don't!" He cried out to no avail.

There was only one destination she could be going to, the arena.

Which was filled with Japanese civilians _and_ Britannian military forces.

And as far as anyone there knew, Euphie still had the authority of a royal backing up her orders.

 _"Oh dear god! What have I done!?"_

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Britannian Embassy, Luoyang, Chinese Federation.**

"Right, I've reached an agreement with the Chinese Federation, therefore I _should_ be returning to the homeland today." He informed Bartley.

["Should we keep the experimental subject and the remaining R1s from the first run here then, your Highness?"] Bartley inquired.

"Yes, how far along is he?" The Prince asked.

["Our resources are rather limited in Area 11 following the loss of a lot of our expertise after Code R was shuttered."] Bartley admitted. ["More so since we lost funding for the biological research portion of the program a year back owing to a lack of subjects at the time."]

"I see, we should ask the Rosenberg institute about that." Schneizel stated. "I'll contact them and make arrangements for you to send the test subject over while you continue development on the Irregulars and the R series."

["Understood… I'm assuming we're leaving the ruins on Kamine Island to Liath's care then?"]

"Yes, she understands more about them than either of us will. That said, once the security situation has stabilized we'll move in to investigate once again after she's departed. Thanks to the SAZ that will be the case, owing to Euphemia everything should work out _perfectly_."

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

Euphie trotted up to the podium, needle gun in hand as Darlton rose to his feet.

"Sub-Viceroy! Where's Zero?" He asked, confused as Iris rushed over to the general.

"I can't raise Colonel, Major Kururugi, or her guard team." The Reploid whispered to him nervously, causing him to narrow his eyes.

["Those of you who call yourselves Japanese… I have a favor to ask."] Euphie said over the microphone.

["Could you all _die_ please?"]

The crowd launched into confused murmuring as the Britannian soldiers froze up while those behind Euphie dropped their jaws open in shock.

* * *

Zero ran up to where the Gawain was, noting that not only was the KMF missing, but so was Nemo and C2, the bodies of Suzaku and Euphie's guards lying about alongside Colonel and the disabled R1 series units.

="Suzaku!"= He gasped, before realizing that there was no blood and Euphie thus hadn't shot him, likely thinking he was already dead. _"He's only unconscious, as are the guards, but why? And why are Colonel and all these Reploids disabled?!"_

And then the mic picked up again, reintroducing him to the far more important objective.

Stopping Euphie.

["Umm…"] Euphie said, realizing that the Japanese _hadn't_ obeyed her command. ["I was hoping you'd all just commit suicide. But you can't, can you? Okay then, please soldiers kill the Japanese! Kill them all!"] Euphie ordered.

* * *

Many of the Britannian Soldiers, alongside Euphie's own guard, stood there, gazing at her in shock and horror, most of them had signed on to fight Britannia's enemies, not murder a mass of civilians when they were on the cusp of destroying most of Area 11's insurgents with a totally bloodless victory by tearing the support of said civilians from them.

["What did she say!?"]

["Why go though all of this to kill a bunch of Elevens!?"] Another soldier asked members of his unit, stunned by this.

"Ah! The woman's gone mad!" Kirihara gasped in shock.

"Cut the mics and cameras now!" Darlton barked at the media crews.

="Euphie! No!"= Zero shouted as he ran into the arena, only to have two of Euphie's guardsmen block his path.

"HALT!"

="OUT OF MY WAY!"=

"TERRORIST!"

="STAND ASIDE YOU FO-"= He said as he was cut off by the needle gun going off, an elderly Japanese man slumping to the ground with red blossoming on his chest as those around him panicked.

A woman, very likely his wife, screamed in horror.

["Go on soldiers! Do your duty! Hurry up!"] Euphie ordered again.

"Princess Euphemia!" Darlton gasped. "What on Earth's come over you!? Please stop this at once your highness! This is-!"

Then another gunshot rang out, shocking the crowd even further as those with line of sight realized she'd just shot one of her own _advisers_.

Darlton slumped to the ground, clutching at his gut as red blossomed out over the shirt of his dress uniform.

Iris clapped her hands over her mouth, the Reploid backing away slowly.

"GENERAL!" One of the Guardsmen shouted, Lelouch's mask slamming shut and the Geass he'd placed on one of them fading due to a lack of a command.

"Please forgive me, General." Euphie said innocently. "But I mustn't let anyone stand in my way! I have to kill all the Japanese!"

She turned back to the mic. ["Now! All forces are to kill _all_ of the Japanese!"] Euphie ordered again.

"EUPHIE NO!" Iris screamed, finally shaking off her shock, too stunned to even consider following the command.

"By your command!" One of the Reploid officers announced as the Reploid Soldiers and R1 units aimed their weapons as one and opened fire alongside many of the human troops.

Other human soldiers however tore off their helmets or gas masks, having joined Euphemia's personal troops for her idealism and blatantly being disgusted by this.

And so the one-sided massacre became _slightly_ less one-sided as they turned their weapons against their former comrades, several Knightmares dueling eachother as the crowd ran for their lives.

Many would not escape.

* * *

Suzaku stirred and woke up to the sounds of screaming and gunfire.

["Kill the Elevens! All troops! Exterminate the Elevens!"] A purist leaning officer ordered over the radio, causing Suzaku's eyes to widen.

["Don't let any escape, kill them all!"]

["ANNIHILATE THOSE TRAITORS WHO DARE TO RAISE ARMS AGAINST US!"]

Japanese civilians and the deserting Britannian soldiers covering them ran for their lives, several streaming past Suzaku as he ran towards the arena entrance.

"Stop! What're you doing!?" Suzaku demanded as he rushed into the arena, noting that several Gloucesters and Sutherlands had already been disabled in the chaos.

A burst of gunfire put paid to that plan, forcing him behind cover.

"All forces, this is Major Suzaku Kururugi! Knight of Honor of Britannia! Cease fire at once!"

["We've been ordered to kill all the Japanese here. And any soldiers who refuse to follow orders."] A Gloucester pilot replied over the comms. ["Princess Euphemia issued the command herself."]

"What!? Princess Euphemia did!? No! That's absurd! She'd never do that!" Suzaku denied heatedly as the Knightmare stared him down.

["You're Japanese too… Aren't you sir Kururugi?"] The pilot asked almost robotically, Suzaku's eyes widening before the torso mounted MG on the Gloucester fired on him.

* * *

Outside the Stadium, the clatter of automatic gunfire echoed out, leaving the crowd outside worried and confused.

* * *

Inside, Lelouch ran through bloodstained aisles of seating filled with corpses. ="EUPHIE STOP!"= He pleaded as he watched in horror as she fired an assault rifle on full automatic, only her lack of skill or training preventing her from killing more people.

" _This thing… My Geass did this?!"_ He thought in absolute horror, all of C2's warnings to not overuse or misuse it flooding back to him.

"Z… Zero…" A dying old woman pleaded as he looked down at her while she grabbed at his cloak. "Please… H… Help us… You must help… You're Japan's savior…"

="Please stop it…"= He whimpered. ="I'm not your savior… I'm not the messiah of Japan…"=

"Zero… You're… You're… Our only hope…" She gasped as she fell limp and released his cloak as she expired.

="Stop it…"= He pleaded. ="Don't… Don't force me…"= He hissed, hoping that providence would deliver a miracle that would keep him from having to kill Euphie, that all of this would be reset to before he made this tragic mistake.

But that was a fool's line of thought.

He vaguely thought he heard someone calling him a 'fool who refused to listen' but shrugged it off as his own thoughts.

="Must I atone for this sin…?"= He asked as he entered the stadium's internal corridors, unable to do _anything_ , walking past dead Japanese civilians and Britannian soldiers alike. ="Is this a cross I have to bear too!?"=

Then Darlton stumbled outside of a side corridor and his brow furrowed.

"Zero! You son of a bitch!" The wounded General snarled at him as he raised his sidearm. "You brainwashed Princess Euphemia didn't you! Colonel was right! You _can_ mind control people!" The man snarled, stunning Lelouch with the revelation that Britannia knew _anything_ about his power.

="Andreas Darlton… The closest among Cornelia's inner circle of advisers…"= Zero mumbled.

The port on his mask snapped open.

* * *

In the forest outside, Kallen and the other Black Knights watched in horror as smoke rose from the stadium.

["Tamaki! What's happening inside the stadium!?"]

["We're trying to figure that out!"]

["We've got comms from one of the Britannian guard units, they're putting out an SOS and requesting aid from the Black Knights!"] Someone shouted over the radio. ["They said that Euphemia's gone crazy and ordered that all Japanese are to be executed and that they're deserting!"]

Everyone's eyes bulged out in horror.

["It's that bad that even Britannians have had enough!?"]

"Then that means many of the killers are Reploids, military models are disciplined to accept the chain of command no matter what order is given!" Rokusho realized. "Along with any soldiers who've placed orders about their own consciences!"

["Good god!"] Someone gasped.

["Well what do we do?! We don't have orders or a battle plan!"] Tamaki exclaimed. ["WHERE THE HELL IS ZERO!?"]

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["We're getting a live broadcast from the SAZ now!"] A newscaster announced as the picture flickered briefly and then set upon an image of Britannian war machines and military Reploids cutting down Japanese civilians, gunfire echoing back as a group of Sutherlands tried to stop them.

The crowd of Britannians, Reploids, and Honorary Britannians gasped in horror and confusion, most wondering what and how everything went so wrong.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **JS** _ **Kasagi,**_ **CV(S)-49** **, West Pacific Ocean.**

"TURN THIS FLEET NORTH DAMNIT!" Hiryuu ordered in a rage. "THOSE DAMN BRITS ARE GOING FOR GENOCIDE NOW!"

"But-"

"BUT MY ASS! WE CAN'T JUST SIT HERE AND DO NOTHING! SOUND GENERAL QUARTERS! GET OUR STRIKE SQUADRONS READY!"

"Aye aye ma'am!"

* * *

A whistle blared over the _Kasagi's_ 1MC, followed by the clang of the GQ alarm as the crew sprang into action, alarms soon blaring over every ship in the fleet as they changed course and picked up speed. [" **General Quarters** , **General Quarters**. All hands man your battle stations. The direction of travel is up and forward on your starboard side, down and aft on your port side."]

A siren began to blare as jets taxied to the carriers forward EM catapults.

["All hands, air raid stations! All hands, air raid stations! Eagle and Dragon squadrons launch immediately and set up a screen around the fleet in unison with units from other vessels! Repeating! All hands, air raid stations! All hands, air raid stations! Eagle and Dragon Squadrons launch immediately and set up a screen around the fleet in unison with units from other vessels!"] The carrier's 1MC bellowed as F/A-27C Sakura fighter jets were flung off the flight deck of the _Kasagi_ in sequence and into the blue sky above.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile Communications Center, SAZ, Japan.**

"They'll be cutting off the broadcast any minute now." Diethard noted. "So make sure to save the data and upload it to the net."

"You heard him." Rakshata stated.

"Right."

A Black Knights member rushed in. "Sir! Nemo reports that she's made contact with the Supreme Commander! And that multiple Britannian units are switching over to our IFF code"

Diethard's jaw dropped in shock. "Well, now that's far better than what I was hoping for!" He said with a smirk, noting that this SAZ business was **far** harder for the average soldier to self-justify than what happened in the Ghettos, as the Japanese were working _with_ rather than _against_ Britannia in this case.

" _I have no idea how you arranged the situation Zero, but to cause a mass_ defection _like this… Undoubtedly your scheme has gone above and beyond what anyone expected it to!"_

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Mobile HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

 _""And… If he does lose control of his Geass?""_

 _""Pray to god he doesn't say something exceedingly stupid to someone capable of making the command a reality without realizing it.""_ C2's words echoed in Shirley's mind as she stared, frozen with her eyes wide open, at the images on the TV in the MHQ.

"Lulu… Why…" She whispered so softly none of the other Black Knights scrambling about to enter the defecting Britannian troops into their IFF network noticed.

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

The Gawain took off again after picking up Lelouch, Nemo noting that C2 was still absent.

"I'm shocked, I didn't think you'd go this far…" Nemo whispered.

"It wasn't me…" He breathed.

Nemo turned to face him and exhaled sharply as she saw his eye.

"This time… I didn't use the power… Or should I say, never intended to use my Geass."

" _I see... Then what I felt earlier was indeed…"_

"I knew there were risks when we made our contract. You told me how dangerous this power could be… Nonetheless! I willingly accepted those risks! But… C2 was right… I've overused it, and now… I have to deal with the consequences..."

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS** _ **Morgan le Fay**_ **, SAZ Airspace.**

Liath began to chuckle, a slow, rolling buildup before she threw her head back and began laughing psychotically.

 **="YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW YOU ARROGANT FOOL!"=** The masked woman cackled as her bridge crew kept at their work to avoid distracting themselves.

None dared to interrupt her.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Staging Area, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Princess Cornelia wait!" Guilford shouted as he rushed after her, Cornelia tossing her cloak onto the ground as she approached her custom Bors unit.

"Don't follow me unless you wish to come along!" She snapped, absolutely _livid_.

" _So, if Iris's last report was correct, then Zero_ does _have some form of mind control power! I'LL_ _ **SLAUGHTER**_ _HIM FOR MAKING EUPHIE DESTROY HER OWN DREAM!"_ The Second Princess fumed vehemently.

It was quite literally impossible for Cornelia to hate anyone else more than she detested the masked leader of the Black Knights at this very moment.

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

"EUPHIE!" Suzaku screamed as he weaved around gunfire, ignoring the field and stands full torn bodies and still crying children and babies laying near their dead parents, the number of the former decreasing rapidly as they were noticed by the loyalist troops and gunned down. "Have you located her yet, where is she?!"

["I don't know!"] Cecile replied. ["We haven't been able to contact Colonel or General Darlton either and Iris has gone off the grid!"]

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Mt Fuji Mines, Japan/Area 11.**

"Something's horribly wrong, Euphemia would never do such a thing…" Munakata muttered, in utter disbelief as he, Sumeragi, and Osakabe rode a lift down inside the mines, Kubouin having long since left for the fleet.

"I wish there were room to negotiate here, but we can't be connected to Kirihara now… We _must_ save ourselves." Osakabe stated.

"Hmm, yes… And the 'souvenir', is it ready?" Munakata asked.

"How pathetic…" Sumeragi stated. "Your survival is all that counts in all this?"

"My lady, you must not speak like that. We must survive for the sake of Japan as well!" Munataka replied to her.

"Then what's the point if we're all that's left!"

"Watch your tongue Kaguya!" Osakabe barked. "You're just a girl with family rank!"

She turned to face them. "What purpose is there to having Kyoto if we don't act now!" She demanded. "What is Japan without her people!?"

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

The Lancelot launched from the _Avalon's_ catapult minutes after a VTOL retrieved Suzaku and brought him to the ship.

" _I just can't believe Euphie would order the slaughter of all of those innocent people! I've got to find her, no matter_ what _!"_

* * *

Explosions ripped through the stadium wall as a group of renegade Sutherlands and Gloucesters backed out, firing back into the stadium as the loyalist troops charged out of the gap to the shock of those around the stadium.

* * *

"Hey! The Britannian forces have broken out of the stadium after wiping out everyone they could find inside besides the few Knightmares still opposing them!" Nemo informed Lelouch.

"Right… In this case our only option is to exploit Euphemia to the utmost." Lelouch said almost emotionlessly. "It's the… Least… We can do…"

Nemo frowned, noting how out of it Lelouch was as a swarm of VTOLs approached only for several to suddenly spew smoke and flame and fall from the sky.

["Attention Zero! This is B and C companies of the 442nd Air Cavalry Regiment! We're defecting to the Black Knights, switching IFF accordingly!"] An AV-1 Cobra pilot notified him after the few gunships and transports not defecting were shot down by their former comrades.

Lelouch smirked briefly as he moved his hand away from the trigger for the Hadron Cannons.

"THIS IS MY ORDER TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE BLACK KNIGHTS, THIS INCLUDES ALL FRESH DEFECTORS FROM THE BRITANNIAN MILITARY! EUPHEMIA HAS BECOME OUR ENEMY!" He declared over an all-forces channel.

"THE SPECIALLY ADMINISTRATED ZONE OF JAPAN IS A COWARDLY TRAP DESIGNED TO LURE US IN! ALL FORCES! ADVANCE ON THE CEREMONY AND WAGE AN ATTACK! DESTROY ANY AND ALL LOYALIST BRITANNIAN TROOPS AND REPLOIDS COMMITTING THE MASSACRE AND AID THOSE TRYING TO SAVE THE JAPANESE! HURRY! SAVE THE JAPANESE!" He pleaded urgently.

* * *

"I have to! I must find Euphie!" Suzaku whispered to himself as Lancelot raced through the skies.

* * *

"FIND EUPHEMIA AND KILL HER!" Lelouch ordered with tears of sorrow and self-loathing in his eyes.

* * *

C2 stumbled out of the arena and glowered at the Gawain as it floated serenely in the sky above, all of her suppressed frustration with Lelouch boiling over.

Her rage pushing past the breaking point as C2 clenched her fists, the Reploid finally released all of the primal fury, a sensation far at odds with her technological origins as a _machine_ , welling inside her. **"LEEEELOOOUCH**! **I'M GOING TO** _ **KILL**_ **YOU**!" She howled at the black and gold KMF, beyond disgusted with the Geass he'd placed on Euphie that incited this entire mess.

And _completely_ unaware of what _actually_ happened.

* * *

 **AN: Several things here, yes Britannian soldiers are trained to obey the orders of Royals, but in every other case of a massacre being enacted in R1 it was A. By the personal troops of people who aren't Euphie. And B. Against Ghetto populations in ways that could be justified by their superiors or themselves.**

 **Euphie basically going. "Hey, just kill all the Japanese who're working with us to stop terrorism by giving them their own place to live as themselves because I said so for no apparent reason." Is the sort of command that would make all but the most blindly obedient or rabidly racist pro-Britannian people go 'hold the fuck up, what the fuck did she just say?!'**

 **Especially since it's** _ **Euphemia** _**saying this.**

 **In the episode it took her repeating her command** _ **twice**_ **to actually get them to start shooting.**

 **Reploids on the other hand, would be conditioned to obey orders without hesitation, with deep ingrained loyalty to Britannia and their command structure.**

 **And since most Reploids** _ **aren't**_ **X or C2 and thus boasting a set of ethics or a suffering chip that allows them to fully emphasize with humans (in ways most other machines, even the original Mega Man, could not), they won't stop and go 'Wait what?!' either, instead simply ensuring the command is genuine before following it. Thus causing the defections of human troops. Of course the defections are hardly even a notable amount of the Tokyo Region's Garrison, let alone Area 11's overall troop strength, but not insignificant in the symbolism of it either.**

 **That said, Cornelia has finally realized Geass, or at least the concept of the Geass of Absolute Obedience, exists, which'll have severe repercussions in the coming Battle of Tokyo.**

 **And as for Iris…**

 **Let's just say she's gone full Nina.**

 **Also, there's something that's notable in the episode itself, aside from Euphie's bodyguards and the two Royal Guard who block Lelouch from stopping Euphie, we don't see the faces of** _ **any**_ **of the Britannian soldiers, not even the helmets and gaskmask/sensor goggle combo of the infantrymen.**

 **It's a sort of dehumanizing moment, combined with the almost robotic way many of them speak, it makes them less like people and more like machines.**

 **Which is all the more poignant here as I had those infantrymen who're defecting tear off their helmets, while I didn't do it intentionally either, on a subconscious level I just did it.**

 **That and having the Reploid officer carrying out Euphie's orders utter the infamous line of the Cylon Centurions, themselves genocidal war machines devoted to exterminating humanity.**

 **Also yes, I'm sneaking Ace Combat references now.**


	25. Stage 25: Stones are Stones

**AN: And thus, everything continues to go straight to hell.**

 **Plus since you've got defections, it's just even more chaotic than it actually was for the Britannians, whom are now not even sure if they can trust their own, despite the relatively limited numbers of people actually defecting.**

 **I never actually explained the real scale of these defections in depth either, it's really more or less individual small unit forces and single armored elements that're disillusioned with Britannia, rather than a mass defection like the 442nd or the ideologically driven split in Euphie's guards, the latter of whom more or less joined Lelouch's side out of desperation, and the former's defection I'll explain in the chapter itself. (So in total a couple hundred at _best_ out of a couple _thousand_ troops in the SAZ region here, most of these defectors being mechanized infantry or air cavalry as well rather than Knightmare or armored troops, and all of whom were largely there in the event Zero pulled any stunts).**

 **It's just the amount of chaos resulting from the entire incident kicking off has caused the metaphorical fog of war to descend upon the SAZ and nobody knows who's on whose side, made infinitely worse worse due to the mass confusion related to Euphie's command causing some units to try and check the validity of the order, it being given by bleeding heart Euphemia after all, which would be taken as a sign treason by the fanatic loyalists, thus leading to over-reporting of defections.**

 **May go back and edit that to make it more clear that not all that many troops are actually disobeying the order.**

 **In all honesty I'm surprised more people haven't tried this version of the massacre or something along these lines, although having it make narrative sense would be rather challenging depending on the setup I suppose, I just manage to squeak it out here thanks to some creative thought processes and use of logic on my part so your mileage may vary.**

 **For Sobran (I'd respond to the PM but am selectively lazy RN, mostly because my sleep cycle is absolutely borked and I'm dealing with a rather annoying sore throat to boot, on top of college again)-Admittedly trying to have the troops shoot at eachother due to confusion caused the genocide order alone... Really doesn't make that much sense at all, if anything I could see it _possibly_ happening because Euphie shot Darlton, leading those with only that knowledge jumping to conclusions and assuming she's starting a coup is possible, but it's a bit more of a stretch than here, plus it being instigated by the defections is a bit more natural, as those would put genuine suspicion into people's minds.**

 **Although, tbh your suggestion did give me several ideas on how to expand the depiction of the chaos into something a bit more reasonable.**

* * *

 **"Ernst kommt Hass | Dann kommt die Nacht | Steine sind Steine | Ohne rote Macht"-And One, _Steine sind Steine._**

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **SAZ, Japan.**

Euphie powered on the custom pink tinted Gloucester unit that had been prepared for her personal use. "I, Euphemia li Britannia, bid all of you within the sound of my voice to heed the following command! Seek out any Japanese you can find."

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Bee Blader Echo 419, En-route to SAZ.**

["And please kill them!"] Euphie declared over an open channel. ["Leave not a single one of them alive!"]

Inside, X looked down at his feet as Zero and Vile checked their weapons alongside the other hunters. Having been deployed by Sigma alongside several other teams and two full Repliforce battalions kept in reserve by Colonel for contingency use to bring an end to the slaughter.

"Hey Zero… Do humans have a Maverick Virus equivalent…?" X asked as the Red Armored hunter frowned pensively.

"I suppose… Humans barely understand how 'our' minds work, let alone their own." He admitted after a brief pause.

"Don't matter at this point, between the footage the Black Knights are undoubtedly leaking and the counter-broadcast showing _them_ being the instigators of the killing, nobody knows what the hell's going on." Vile grumbled, as shortly after Diethard had broken through the transmission blocks, a counter-broadcast had appeared, showing armed Black Knights members slaughtering much of the people present instead of Britannian soldiers.

Even Middy had admitted he wasn't sure which one was the edited version.

"But… Euphemia is still giving commands, why bother?" X asked Vile, who chuckled.

"You think anyone outside the Kanto region is going to know that she's still alive if someone claims she isn't and nobody can offer proof to the contrary?" The violet armored hunter questioned. "It's damage control X, meant to convince the world that Zero got all pissy and threw a tantrum about the SAZ, after Narita, well… He doesn't exactly have much good publicity beyond rumors."

"Instilling doubt is an effective part of psyops." Zero noted. "Just look at all the Britannian reports of friendly fire, they're doubting eachother's loyalties and that's playing right into Zero's hands."

X nodded and looked back down at the floor. "Yeah… I guess so… But… Why did that footage look like it had been prepared in advance?" He whispered under his breath.

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

Gunfire echoed through the SAZ as the entire Britannian chain of command collapsed into chaos.

["This is 506th Battalion, A company command! All 506th elements! Can anyone confirm that order!? Was that actually Princess Euphemia!?"]

["This is fourth squad, D company! We're taking fire from friendlies! Requesting orders!"]

["This is a C company, what the hell is going on!? We just lost two vics to friendly fire from Euphemia's Guard after asking them to confirm the order! They're calling us traitors!"]

["This is recon team three, we're seeing firefights between members of the Royal Guard!"]

["Fuck this, returning fire!"]

["F platoon has suffered heavy losses from a mortar strike!"]

["The 700th are reporting that some of their forces have dropped off friendly IFF and switched over to the Black Knights!"]

["The hell!?"]

["D company, B company! Cease fire! The 608th are on our side!"]

["Like hell they are, they shot first! This has to be some kind of coup!"]

["We're under fire from other friendly forces!"]

["Why isn't General Darlton stepping in!?"]

["I heard the Princess shot him!"]

["What the hell!?"]

["WE'VE GOT HOSTILES! IT'S THE BLACK KNIGHTS!"]

["WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?"]

* * *

"Euphemia has betrayed us here!" Lelouch shouted again over his comms to further rally his forces. "All units, descend upon the stadium! Grind every Britannian soldier and Reploid participating in her farce to dust!"

* * *

Knightmares, Ride Armors, and armored vehicles burst from cover and charged in from the four points Lelouch had them wait at. Charging straight towards the far more numerous troops conducting the massacre.

A Sutherland belonging to the attackers turned and activated its factsphere, only for the Guren Mark Two to grab it by the head and fire off the wave surger, destroying the machine.

["Damn you Euphemia! You deceived us!"] Kallen snarled.

And yet, there was a nagging feeling at the back of her head that there was something horribly off with all this. _"Why even wait for Zero though? She had everyone right where she wanted them…"_

She shook off her doubts and moved to the next enemy Knightmares, which had been engaging a damaged Gloucester attempting to protect a crowd of civilians.

["Thanks for the assist!"] The defector thanked her as they opened fire on a squad of Reploids that had been trying to flank the fight and carry out Euphemia's command.

* * *

["Damn Elevens!"] A loyalist Gloucester pilot shouted as they charged towards Todoh's group.

["How many of you people were in on this?!"] Todoh demanded as he cleaved the head off of the enemy Knightmare while a Black Knights tank platoon and a group of Burais wiped out a squad of loyalist Sutherlands nearby.

* * *

"Go get those murderers!" Someone cheered as the slowly gathering defectors and the mass of Black Knights rushed past a small gathering of civilians.

"At least _some_ Britannians aren't monsters!" Another shouted with joy as a defecting M60 tank blew apart a squad of loyalist infantry with HE shells. "Crush those lying bastards!"

* * *

"Euphie! Euphie, where are you!?" Suzaku pleaded as the Lancelot searched for her from the sky.

A volley of fire from the Knightmares, armored vehicles, and SPAA below shot up towards him, Suzaku barely blocking the worst of it with the Blaze Luminous.

"Get away from me! I don't have time to waste on you!" He shouted futilely at them.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **, SAZ Airspace.**

"Oh my this is turning into a mess, our side can't tell who's fighting who!" Lloyd mumbled as more IFFs flipped over to the Black Knights as squads who'd been patrolling the SAZ defected.

"It seems that the scale of the defections was overestimated and that many of our own units are fighting themselves instead of hostile forces." Cecile confirmed. "This is likely due to the direct division within Princess Euphemia's guard forces and units mistaking genuine questions about the validity of the order as treason."

"By our revised estimates, rather than a full Battalion or so. Only a handful of troops, roughly three or four under-strength _companies_ worth of mostly infantry units plus those two 442nd airborne companies. Only these, out of the _four battalions_ of security troops assigned to secure the SAZ and its surroundings during the inauguration, are confirmed to have actually defected." She told Lloyd, whom nodded at her.

"And those air cavalry units?"

"They appear to have been largely composed of 'Patriots' who were waiting for an excuse to jump ship from what I can tell via preliminary information, and given the amount of suspicious transfers into the regiment according to the data being transferred by their base commander I'm surprised an investigation wasn't launched by now."

"Mmm... Bureaucracy is our worst enemy at times..." Lloyd hummed as he leaned over Cecile's console.

"Back on topic, numerous units are just shooting on sight now without identifying first thanks to the initial chaos, we've lost at _least_ eight platoons worth of soldiers to our own forces alone so far since the fighting broke out of the arena." Cecile continued as controllers tried to stop the friendly fire incidents before the Black Knights could take advantage of the confusion.

"Oh dear..." Lloyd whistled. "So the chain of command has totally fragmented, with General Darlton and Colonel out of the picture that should put Liath in charge... Why isn't she doing anything about this?"

"We don't know, the _Le Fay_ hasn't issued any orders at all."

 _"Almost as if she_ wants _this to happen..."_ Lloyd mused warily.

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

A loyalist Sutherland was blown apart in a hail of bullets from Ohgi's Burai, which was carrying Kirihara to safety.

"How _dare_ you trample people's dreams!" He snarled furiously. "How dare you… Trample on the hopes of our people…! EUPHEMIA!"

* * *

Euphemia's Gloucester turned to face a fleeing crowd after impulsively destroying a command APC that had questioned the authenticity of her orders, opening fire on the civilians just before Kallen used the Guren's knife to disarm it and shoved the machine back. ["STOP IT!"] Kallen shouted.

Euphie yelped in surprise before getting her bearings. "Are you Japanese?!" She asked. "You _dare_ raise a hand against Euphemia li Britannia!?"

* * *

Kallen grinned smugly. "Aha… There you are you ridiculous Royal Puppet… I should've known you'd be in the _pink_ one…"

["Oh, you were on that Island, weren't you?"] Euphie asked, Kallen vaguely noticing something… Off, with her tone, especially compared to two days ago.

"Yeah, now suffer the hand of vengeance as I-"

["Wait!"] Zero ordered, causing Kallen to stiffen and pause as the Gawain's shadow loomed over Euphemia's KMF. ["I'll deal with her."]

The finger slash harkens on the Gawain fired off, entrapping the pink Gloucester.

["You defiant Japanese!"] Euphie decried as the Gawain used the razor-sharp wires it had bracketed her machine with to cut through the tungsten armor and frame of the Gloucester, causing it to fall to pieces.

* * *

["What now Zero?"] Kallen asked as she chimed the Gawain's comms. ["Do we take her prisoner?"]

"There's no point, leave her. I'll end this." Lelouch replied as the Gawain descended.

* * *

"I have to kill them all…" Euphie mumbled as she searched for a weapon after exiting the wrecked Knightmare. "These Japanese people, they have to die!"

She spotted an M16 lying next to one of the soldiers she'd killed and picked it up, firing the weapon uselessly at the Gawain, the 5.56mm linear propelled rounds bouncing harmlessly off the massive Knightmare's armor.

* * *

Inside the Gawain, Lelouch put his mask back on, having accepted what he was about to do as inevitable now.

* * *

Euphie's rifle ran out of ammo, the trigger clicking as she pulled it repeatedly. "Out of ammo, I have to… Hurry!" She said as she spotted a fresh magazine lying next to a Britannian soldier's corpse and rushing over to it.

Zero rode the Gawain's boarding line down as Euphie fumbled with the fresh magazine after ejecting the spent one. "I think it goes… In here…" She mumbled before it locked in with a click, slamming the door over the magazine slot shut.

She looked up to see Zero striding towards her. One of his hands hidden behind his cloak while the other was barely visible.

"Oh, it's you! I thought you were one of them!" Euphie said. "So I was thinking we could run the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan together… Oh wait… Japan…" Euphie mumbled barely loud enough for the Guren to pick up, causing Kallen some consternation.

* * *

" _Is she… Alright…?"_ The redhead wondered, as that suggestion had come totally out of the blue and in spite of everything she'd just done.

The fact Euphie had seemed confused by the fact she'd even suggested it caused her earlier concerns to rise back to the fore.

" _No… Zero wouldn't do anything like that… Besides, that's stupid to even think such a thing is possible."_ Kallen thought, dismissing them again for the moment.

* * *

="Yes… I would've liked that…"= Zero admitted as he strode past her, Euphie turning to face him as he did so. ="You and I, together…"=

* * *

The Lancelot stopped in mid-air having finally located Euphie.

"Euphie…" Suzaku said with a smile on his face.

* * *

Lelouch turned to face his half-sister as he raised his gun and pulled the trigger, vaguely noticing his weapon's lack of a kick in response to the recoil of it firing, a bullet ripping through Euphemia's body as she fell backwards from the impact, dropping the rifle in her hands.

A faint chime indicated the pistol's battery had just died.

" _Lelouch… Why…?"_

" _Farewell Euphie…"_ He thought sadly, knowing that it was all _his_ fault. _"You may have been the first girl I ever loved…"_

[" **NOOOOOOOOOO!** "] Suzaku screamed as something in his mind _snapped_ , the Lancelot diving down towards Euphie and Lelouch.

="SUZAKU!?"= Lelouch gasped in horror as he spotted the Lancelot screaming towards him.

Quite literally given the machine was playing its pilot's anguished cry over its speakers.

* * *

"Why _now_ of all times!?" Nemo growled as she prepped to fire the Gawain's hadron cannons herself, only to be knocked forwards by another Knightmare just after Kallen screamed over the comms in terror.

Turning the Gawain, she saw the Scathach bring its MVS Lance up again to strike at the larger machine, the disabled heap of the Guren Mark Two lying behind it, Kallen having been taken off guard and disabled.

"DAMNIT YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Nemo screamed as she fired only to have the blasts miss wildly due to the close range with the Scathatch, the opposing black and grey Knightmare deftly slamming the Gawain aside and into the front of a commercial residence.

* * *

[ **="KURURUGI! GET HER HIGHNESS BACK TO THE _LE FAY_! OUR MEDICAL FACILITIES ARE SUPERIOR TO THE ONES ON THE _AVALON_!"=**] Liath ordered Suzaku over comms as he gingerly picked up Euphemia and soared off into the sky, the Scathach following as Zero stared up helplessly while they retreated to the airships soaring above the battle, the _le Fay_ 's ventral 76mm linear guns spewing fire down at his troops to ward them off.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS** _ **Morgan le Fay**_ **, SAZ Airspace, Japan.**

The Lancelot landed in the crowded hangar of the _le Fay_ , a medical team already on hand to take Euphemia to the ship's operating room.

"PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO SAVE HER! YOU CAN'T LET HER DIE!" Suzaku pleaded as the Lancelot's cockpit opened.

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

C2 strangled another R1 unit until its head popped off, imagining that it was Lelouch yet again.

"Fucking Zero, fucking Britannians, fucking Japanese, fucking Euphemia, fucking Black Knights… All of it can just go to hell…" She whispered as she turned on a group of uneasy Japanese civilians who'd just prior to the R1 units arriving had been beating a terrified Britannian soldier who'd neither joined the massacre nor defected to the Black Knights.

"Speaking of which… Mindless sheep like you are part of the problem…" The Reploid whispered as she marched towards them, her drills whirring like angry hornets.

"But… You're part of the Black Knights!" One of them pleaded as they backed away.

"Does it matter…? The only people who should kill… Are those who are _prepared_ to _be_ killed." She stated as she lunged towards them, eyes flickering red as she did so.

The bruised and bloodied Britannian soldier scrambled to his feet and ran for his life, tossing his helmet and weapon aside.

He never looked back to see the what happened to his attackers, but the screams and sickly sounds of flesh tearing told him all he needed to know of their fate.

* * *

X shot down another R1 unit as Zero swept through the swarm advancing on a nearby town like a demon.

"Vile! How's your sector looking?!" X asked over the comms as he scythed buster cannon fire through another squad of R1s that was advancing like mindless drones.

["We've got it contained, but nobody was able to land at the stadium, Black Knights opened fire on _anything_ approaching unless it was flying their IFF."]

"What in the world…" X whispered, not liking where this was going at all.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"You still haven't made contact with Darlton or Colonel?"

["No, your Highness."] A soldier replied to Cornelia's inquest. ["We've received a report he'd been injured by Princess Euphemia… But nothing further after that. As for Colonel, a Repliforce strike team managed to extract him and Iris not far from the stadium, although he's been badly damaged and in need of repairs."]

Cornelia frowned as her T-4 VTOL flew alongside a group of heavy airlifters, gunships, transports, attack planes, fighters, tactical bombers and fighter-bombers towards Mt Fuji.

["Viceroy, we've just gotten an urgent emergency message from the _Avalon_."]

"From the _Avalon_?" Cornelia asked, hoping it was good news.

["Yes. It appears the SAZ at Mt Fuji has fallen to the Black Knights, our remaining forces they have successfully withdrawn… But the Black Knights are now moving to intercept our forces and we have reports of unidentified aircraft taking off from clandestine airstrips all over the region."]

"What!?"

["And Princess Euphemia…"] Guilford paused hesitantly. ["She's undergoing medical treatment aboard the _Morgan le Fay_."]

Cornelia froze up. "What did Liath say about it…"

["The Executrix sent a report that confirms Zero brainwashed Princess Euphemia into instigating the massacre, likely to provide him with an excuse to invade the settlement. She's comatose now but is expected to survive, apparently Zero's coilpistol didn't fire at full charge, leaving her with a relatively shallow wound, which is likely the only reason she's still alive."] Her knight reported.

Cornelia snarled in rage, as relieved as she was for that. "Recall our troops and set up a defense perimeter! I want _anyone_ who's had any sort of memory blackout since Zero appeared under constant watch by Reploid soldiers! Dispatch any available R1s to guard all high priority facilities, even the units just coming off the assembly line!" She ordered.

In another time, she'd have broken apart under the stress of having Euphie killed while she stood helpless, but here, her fire burned with the righteous fury of a thousand suns.

"I'll make Zero _pay_ for _every **single**_ **drop** of Britannian blood he's spilled with an **ocean** of _Eleven_ blood!" She promised intensely. "ALL FORCES ARE TO WITHDRAW TO THE SETTLEMENT! WE'RE SETTING UP DEFENSES!"

["YES, YOUR HIGHNESS!"]

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

Tamaki punched a hapless Britannian official, a member of the Flare Party no less, until Rokusho pulled him away, the man immediately being tended to by a medical Reploid, still in shock at what had gone wrong.

"EQUALITY!" The angered Japanese man screamed. "YOU CAN SHOVE THAT STRAIGHT UP YOUR ADMINISTRATIVE ASS! YOU PEOPLE LURED US INTO A DEATH TRAP! YOU ALL JUST MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF YOUR LIVES! YOU GOT THAT!?" He shouted as the now occupied G-1 had its Britannian livery stripped from it by the mob.

* * *

All around the surviving surrendered loyalist troops were belittled and decried while the still wary, and quite outnumbered defectors had their equipment repainted and given new uniforms to represent their change in allegiances.

More than a few of them were pensive about it, having been effectively forced to do so to avoid being slaughtered by both sides.

Watching it all from on high was a bloodstained C2, the emotionally drained Reploid indifferent to what came next, especially after waking up from her blackout earlier to find herself surrounded by carnage.

* * *

"Lucked out didn't we?" Rakshata asked Diethard as they went over the logs from inside the G-1. "I can't believe they left all this footage and equipment behind."

"Yes, once we're done editing we'll upload this to the net for the entire world to see, hopefully before whoever created that fake video of the Black Knights instigating the violence does for their own footage." He murmured.

"Why should that matter?" Rakshata asked him.

"Because if we don't get our side out first, then international support will be less forthcoming." He informed her.

She smirked. "How curious… You don't feel any loyalty toward Britannia, do you?"

"Loyalty? Britannia's glory has ripened on the vine, my talents are _wasted_ serving them."

Rakshata giggled. "You're more of an honest man than I thought you were."

"And what will _you_ do now?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Hard to say… The main reason I came here was to gather data. But I'd feel bad about abandoning you all, especially since I may be able to offer something Q2 a link to her past. That and I find Zero so… Amusing…"

"Q2's Past?"

"Mmmhm, she was apparently built by a woman by the name of Noelle Lalinde some time ago based on some stuff I peeked at while fiddling around with her memory banks, don't tell her or she _might_ kill us both, anyways from what I can tell Doctor lalinde worked for a company called 'Geoworks International' which was a geological research and mining conglomerate that had sites all over the globe. Naturally some of these places have to have more information about her if the good Doctor treated information dispersal in any way like the equally mysterious Doctor Wily or this Doctor Light whom Cain claims created X."

"And what would you ask in return?" Diethard inquired, now quite curious.

"The rights to use her schematics to build a new line of Reploids to help counter Britannia's of course, that and to study her more thoroughly in general."

Diethard hummed as he rubbed his chin.

* * *

In the ruins of the stadium Zero, Nemo, and Kallen stared down Kirihara and the other three present members of Kyoto who were flanked by Ohgi. Kobouin had already pledged his full support to Zero in the aftermath of the SAZ massacre, having suspected it of being a farce from the start. Which left Kirihara and the other three as one of Kyoto's six leaders had been cut down in the fighting.

"How wonderful to finally meet you!" Kaguya Sumeragi greeted Zero, as if there hadn't been hundreds killed in this very building an hour or so ago.

" _This girl… She's a relative of Suzaku's…"_ Lelouch realized, having remembered her back from when he arrived at the Kururugi shrine.

"Zero… Are you prepared to work beside us in what's to come…?" Kirihara asked nervously.

="The opposite!"= He declared, much to their shock. ="From this point on, the six houses of Kyoto shall answer to _me_! I won't hear any objections, all other routes of survival for you have now _vanished_!"=

* * *

 **HIMAS** _ **Morgan le Fay**_ **, Area 11 Airspace.**

The operating room light shut off as the door hissed open.

"Will she make it to the Bureau?" One of the 501st soldiers asked the surgeon.

"Barely, she's lucky Zero's coil pistol's power supply was almost drained otherwise it'd have been fatal even with our facilities." The surgeon replied. "We should transfer her to the homeland as soon as possible for further care, however, there's no telling what'll happen in the coming days, both from a medical and military perspective."

The soldier nodded at him. "Very well, I'll have Repliforce provide a high-speed aircraft."

* * *

Inside the OR, Suzaku sat next to Euphie's bedside as Liath stood behind him. "So, she'll survive right…?"

 **="Yes, but… They don't expect her to wake up any time soon due to her injuries and the blood loss…"=** The Executrix replied, a tinge of sadness in her voice.

"How… How could this happen…" Suzaku mumbled.

 **="It's simple, he Geassed her into starting the slaughter."=**

He turned to face Liath.

"Geass…?" He asked nervously.

 **="Geass, the power of the King, an arcane ability utilized by a select few since ancient times. Zero acquired his in to support his attempt to destroy Britannia by _forcing_ people to oblige his orders, I don't know how many he has under his sway, but I sent a list of suspects to Cornelia to mitigate the damage to our forces in the coming battle."=** She explained, giving Suzaku just enough information to satisfy him.

She saw the rage simmering in his eyes. "And he _forced_ Euphie to order the Japanese to die!?" He snarled furiously.

 **="Yes, because he couldn't accept that in her impulsiveness, she'd outplayed him."=** The woman explained.

Not a lie, but not the whole truth either.

Suzaku shot to his feet and screamed in rage, bashing a fist against an empty wall plate, blood trickling from his knuckles afterwards.

Suzaku pulled his hand back and stared at it. "And so, Zero used his power on me too then." He realized after a moment. "That's why I disobeyed orders at Shikane Island."

The woman nodded. **="Now you're getting it."=**

He turned to face her again, the first hints of madness glinting in his green eyes. "Thank you your Eminence… I know what I need to do now… I need to _kill_ Zero so he can't do this to _anyone_ **ever again** …"

A predatory grin grew on her face behind her mask.

 _"Exactly as planned."_

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

The crowd cheered for Zero as he strode forwards on the very same podium from which Euphie had ordered the massacre he'd commanded her to enact.

="PEOPLE OF JAPAN!"= He announced, throwing out an arm for dramatic effect. ="And _all_ who are oppressed and abused by the Empire of Britannia!"=

=" _Long_ have I waited! All through the struggles against Britannia's injustices, I've waited for their government and elites to come to their _senses_!"= He stated as he began speaking, letting his words flow as naturally as they could. ="But that hope was _betrayed_! By an act of barbarism that can only be called _genocide_!"= He decried passionately. ="A genocide that many _Britannians_ found horrific and monstrous enough to turn their **backs** on their own nation!"=

Admittedly the 'many' part was overstated according to the info Nemo had relayed to him just prior, but every good rallying speech had an element of falsehood in it he supposed.

He cast an arm out towards the crowd. ="Euphemia is the ultimate symbol of Britannia's hypocrisy! A _murderer_ cloaked in the flag of a nation!"=

The crowd began chanting furiously, many of their voices far more radicalized than he'd hoped. Though to be honest, he should've expected it.

Still, he could use them.

="I hereby declare our _independence_ from Britannia!"= Zero announced, to the shock of his supporters. ="But _don't_ take this to mean the resurrection of your fallen nation… We will _not_ turn back the hands of time! The **new** Japan we go on to build… Shall be one broad enough to accept **all** peoples, histories, and ideologies!"= He promised as the crowd fell silent again. ="Where the strong shall _not_ reign over the **weak**! And in the honor of a group of great men who sought to provide thirteen colonies with the power of self-determination against an Empire half a world away! An Empire who dared to impose increasingly harsh measures upon them without their voted consent!"=

=" **I HEREBY DECLARE THE FOUNDING OF THESE UNITED STATES OF JAPAN**!"= Zero proclaimed as he swept his arms in and out in a dramatic flourish to the cheers of the crowd.

"He's done it!" An awed Diethard whispered. "This is the birth of a nation!"

* * *

C2 frowned as she watched from above. "Can you back these words up Lelouch, you bastard..." She whispered softly as she tapped her buster against the stands. Hearing the chants below echo up to her.

" _ **ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO!"**_

She huffed softly as they chanted. "Like father, like son I suppose..." She murmured, noticing the similarities to Charle's speech in the aftermath of Clovis's death.

* * *

Some time later, Lelouch walked back to his improvised quarters as a loudspeaker blared deployment orders for his forces.

Nemo closed the blinds and turned to face him. "So, you intend to assault the Tokyo Settlement?" She asked.

="Yes."= He said as he removed his mask. "This is the best chance we'll get the way things turned out." He informed her.

He realized she was exposed to his Geass and looked away on instinct.

"Have you forgotten? Your Geass has no effect on me." Nemo pointed out with some exasperation.

"Hmph… That's true isn't it… With my Geass out of control now… I can never look upon anyone who I haven't already commanded or is otherwise immune…" He mused softly. "By the way, have you seen C2, she's been absent since…"

"I saw her take off after she brought down a two dozen of those knockoffs of her with some kind of influence effect, but I lost track of her in the chaos." Nemo admitted. "If she hasn't reconnected with us by now she's either been destroyed, incapacitated…"

"Or she's figured out that my Geass was behind this and is trying to decide whether to kill me or not…" Lelouch whispered morbidly as his phone rang, he pulled it out, noting that it was Nunnally.

"Yes, Nunnally?" He asked as he picked up.

["Hi Lelouch!"] His sister replied sweetly. ["I was wondering uh… Umm… Do you suppose I could talk to Euphie again?"] She asked innocently, blissfully unaware of everything that had occurred today.

Lelouch gasped in shock, realizing that Nunnally could never accept Euphie being able to do something so cruel for no reason.

["I was thinking the three of us could go to the next school festival together. You see, Milly said they were organizing another one, since everything got all messed up the other day."] Nunnally explained. ["So I was hoping we could go to the new one together too!"]

She realized something as she'd paused before continuing. ["Oh, I'm sorry, I know you don't want us meeting ever again. But I thought, maybe, if there was some way you and I could see her just one last time…"]

"Nunnally… Haven't you heard the news…?" He asked, knowing the answer based on what she'd said earlier.

["Oh, well, the radio cut out mid-broadcast earlier, and the military promptly took over all the channels on Cornelia's orders. Why do you ask? Did something happen?"]

" _Cornelia's still in effective command… Which means Euphie's still alive at the least…"_

He frowned, as much as he hated to admit it, Euphie dying would've made his job easier, as the shock of it would've rendered his elder sister catatonic, with Darlton and Colonel ineffective it would mean that Guilford and a handful of others including Bartley would be the only ones in command.

Still... Bartley was the man who'd rallied Britannian troops to cut off the retreat of Todoh's forces after news of Itsukushima reached him.

"Of course not, everything is just fine." He lied quite blatantly to his sister. "Sorry, I'll be home by tomorrow, we'll discuss it more when I'm back."

["Okay… Bye Lelouch."]

"Right…" He said as he hung up and put his phone away.

"Alright, so you can't switch off your Geass… Are there any other changes you've noticed?" Nemo asked as she looked out the blinds again, wary of unwanted guests.

"Not really it's just…" He stopped briefly as he felt himself at a loss for words. "Euphie… She tried to resist the Geass… And my orders…" He stated grimly as he looked down at his legs. "I was wondering if my power had weakened. But I think… I think that such a malignant command… Was simply against her nature…"

"And so…?" She asked as she walked over to him.

"That's all…" He said as he began to break down. "I guess… It was something…" He choked out as he began to quietly sob while Nemo knelt down and began to comfort him.

From her hiding place behind a large dresser, C2 powered down her buster and barely avoided having her legs give out from the emotional shock.

"Goddamnit..." She whispered, her voice cracking and alarming both Lelouch and Nemo.

"C... C2...?" Lelouch asked nervously as the Reploid waved lazily from where she was standing. "How-"

"Enough to change my mind about blowing your head off..." She admitted, sending a chill down his spine as she emerged from behind the dresser, tears streaming down her face. "Why... WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN TO ME YOU STUBBORN BASTARD!?" She demanded, fists clenched tightly at her sides.

Lelouch hung his head in shame, he had no excuses, not now.

"One more chance Lelouch..." C2 told him, her voice hardening. "One more and them I'm out... Don't fuck it up..."

He nodded at her in understanding.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace Command Center, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"We weren't fast enough!" One of Cornelia's staff informed her. "We may have managed to keep the news off the net, but… There's insurrections all over the map!"

"That's correct, the Black Knights by default are the largest of the insurgent groups outside the JLF's remnants and are absorbing all the others en-route as they advance towards the Tokyo Settlement. In addition, anti-Imperial elements that've festered in many of our own units have begun defecting following reports of Euphemia's involvement in the massacre, we're still accounting for the treasonous scums' records and files as we speak."

"All of our ground and air forces in Area 11 are in play right now! All we have available to defend the settlement is the Navy and our units in the Tokyo region!"

"Yes, and with so many honorary Britannians turning on us, our enemies number in the tens of thousands. Plus there's reports the remnants of the JMSDF are prowling along the coastline!"

"Don't panic you fools!" Cornelia snapped at them. "Just because they have numbers doesn't give them an advantage! It just means they have warm bodies to hand rifles off to!"

"But Viceroy!"

"I've been in contact with Repliforce, they've dispatched Storm Owl's experimental air flotilla and Jet Stingray's maritime armada to aid us, while Liath has called upon the _entire_ 501st Division, the last of whom have already arrived and set up a defense line around O'Hare field." She reported as Guilford nodded at her. "Additionally, forces from MacArthur base in Area 12 are en-route to reinforce us. While SIGINT reports indicate the Pluton detachment in Area 11 has been ordered to prep for combat."

Cornelia frowned after saying that, she'd have been happier to _not_ know Pluton had sent a detachment to Area 11, even if such a thing was to be expected.

"On a far more serious note, we still haven't heard anything from General Darlton! And Colonel is still undergoing repairs!" One of her staff stated.

"That's irrelevant for the moment. Have you secured all the blocks yet?" She asked.

"Yes, Your Highness, there was some minor resistance from brainwashed soldiers and willing traitors but the R1s and Reploid troopers have taken full control of all security critical areas, and we have sentries watching the control centers for the settlement blocks in the event of further sleeper agents."

Liath turned her head to face Cornelia, mask impassive as always. **="We're circling the wagons?"=** She asked.

"Yes, advancing into the countryside while it's in full revolt is suicidal, which is why all settlements in the region are under full lockdown and the Navy has sortied out all combat ready vessels from all its Area 11 bases. With everything in the settlement under our control, Zero can't play any wild cards inside our lines like he did at Narita." She confirmed. "I've already given orders to our air wings to stay evasive and not bunch up so that the Gawain cannot wipe them out with a single shot."

"And what about Iris? Colonel's sister unit?" One of the staff officers asked.

"What about her…?" Guilford inquired.

"Well, she was last seen heading to the Maverick Hunter HQ with a copy of Colonel's battle programming." The man replied.

Cornelia frowned pensively.

" _What could she be up to…?"_

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Regional HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

If Middy could physically sweat, he would be as he felt a sidearm press against the back of his helmet.

"You're sure that it'll integrate properly?" Iris asked emotionlessly as she held the head tech of the 17th unit hostage.

"Y… Yes… You and Colonel share a lot of the same programming, it'll be fine… I think..."

Iris narrowed her eyes. "Thank you…" She said as she disconnected the link cables once the upload was complete and then shoved Middy into the wall and bolting before any alarms could be raised.

Groaning, Middy got back up and briefly contemplated actually calling security but decided against it.

" _What can one non-combat Reploid do against an army…?"_ He wondered.

He would regret thinking that in mere hours.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Project Badb Hangar, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The magenta eyes of the RAX-04 Badb flared to life as it remotely connected with Iris, the immense Gawain-sized ride armor powering on.

[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL. WEAPONS: HOT. MISSION: THE DESTRUCTION OF ANY AND ALL ELEVEN INSURGENTS AND BLACK KNIGHTS. COMMENCE ENERGY BUILDUP. ALL GLORY TO BRITANNIA.] The machine's internal computer 'thought' as it began charging its capacitor banks and loading what munitions it required automatically.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **G-1** _ **Princess Nunnally**_ **, Area 11.**

["Everyone in Toyama squad is at your disposal."] Someone reported over the radio.

["Roger that, any weaponry?"] Someone on the G-1 inquired.

["Some explosives from Gokayama. But we don't have enough vehicles, can any of us ride with you?"]

["Best we can offer are freight trains, unless you feel confident enough to sit on top of a tank, truck or APC. That okay?"] The Black Knights officer replied as the core leadership watched the column of vehicles follow after them.

"Looks like the groups from Yamanashi have joined up with us." Tamaki smirked as a group of Panzer-Hummels, Tierens, Burais, Glasgows, Gun-Rus, and Kalinkas moved up to join the column, backed by Type 50 and Type 45 MBTs, Type 58 and 59 MBTs from China, exported Soviet T-34, T-54 and T-44 MBTs, plus stolen M48s, M41s, M47s, M46s, and M60s in addition to countless other types of vehicles.

"Yeah and the remnants of the Blood of the Samurai faction too. Along with several groups of Britannian Neo-Patriots." Minami added.

"Our numbers are growing by the minute!" Yoshida noted in awe.

"Then there's Hiryuu's fleet moving to aid us, Marty's pirates too." Inoue added as well.

Not everyone had such bright views of what was going on. _"I hope everyone in the student council can get away…"_ Kallen thought as she and Shirley watched from the back of the G-1 as well as the two moped about.

* * *

In a corridor Nemo leaned against the wall and sighed as she looked upwards. "On the contrary, I'm quite glad, as it at least enabled C2 and Lelouch to make up for the moment… Though she's more than willing to quit if he screws up again."

There was a brief pause before she spoke again. "Yes, I've figured out what kindness is… C.C."

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shinjuku Ghetto, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Chigusa watched out the window as an angry mob of Japanese up the street was violently dispersed by a platoon of R1 Reploids, many of the rioters being cut down by the buster cannons of the war machines, or literally torn to pieces in hand to hand combat by their sheer mechanical strength.

"I hope you're alright Kaname." Chigusa whispered to him over the phone as the rioters gave up and ran for their lives as additional R1s moved in from cleared areas. "You're working in Shizuoka now, right?" She asked as she let the blinds close.

["Yeah, I'm fine over here."] Ohgi replied, the sounds of Black Knights members repainting Sutherlands, manned and drone Liverpools and Gloucesters still on the production line emanating over the phone. ["Look Chigusa, we need to talk about something very important when I get back…"]

She gasped in surprise.

["What's wrong…?"] He asked in a hushed tone, thinking something had happened.

"Well that's the first time you called me by that name over the phone." She replied happily.

["Oh, you're right!"] Ohgi realized. ["Does it sound weird…?"]

"Not a bit! Anyway, I'll be here…" She said as she hung up, only to hear banging on the door.

The door was smashed down by a rioter with a sledgehammer. "There she is!" He snarled. "That Brit woman!"

"Watching us from your window huh!?" The second man growled.

"Admit it! You're some sort of spy!" The third accused.

She slowly backed up, fearful for her life.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["As the insurgents draw closer, the security situation in the Ghetto continues to worsen despite the deployment of combat troops and a zero-tolerance policy enacted by the Viceroy."] A newsman reported as Rivalz, Nunnally, and Sophie Wood watched the news, the latter being present mostly because Shirley was conspicuously absent, and thus Milly had conscripted her again in the latter's place.

Arthur simply slept, the cat uncaring of human affairs.

["The government is asking all citizens to stay in their homes until further notice, and to remain vigilant against rioters and looters."]

"Do you think the fighting will come our way as well…?" Nunnally asked Rivalz nervously.

"O... Of course not!" Rivalz assured her quickly. "Princess Cornelia's regular forces are stationed here, and a large number of airlifters loaded with members of Liath's own 501st division landed a few hours ago! Plus we've got the Navy! There's no way it'll get this close!"

"I hope so…" Sophie mumbled nervously as well. "We still haven't heard about where Shirley is…"

"Jeez buck up will ya Sophie… You're scaring me…" Rivalz mumbled before turning back to Nunnally. "Ah, Nunnally, what about Lelouch, is he back here yet?"

"No, he's still out there, so is Kallen and C2…" She replied.

"Wonder what's up with that…" Rivalz mumbled under his breath.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Basement, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Nina continued her work on her project involving the Ganymede, mumbling under her breath about how Zero would pay.

Milly rushed in stopping in front of her workbench. "Nina! They want us upstairs in school! The insurgents are headed straight towards Tokyo!"

Nina looked up from the Knightmare's cockpit. "Right, and Zero is coming, isn't he?" She asked, unnerving Milly with her unusually aggressive tone.

" _Please, wait for me Princess Euphemia… I'll avenge you, I swear!"_ She promised.

In the rafters above, a team of Pluton operatives watched the girls intently, focusing on Nina after Milly went back upstairs.

="Keep an eye on her. I want to see what she's doing with those materials."=

="Understood."=

* * *

 **Maverick Hunter Regional HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

X ushered a group of Civilians into the safety offered by the HQ while his fellow hunters set up roadblocks, Australian made Sentinel Mk X tanks, heavy mechaniloids, and ride armors taking positions to defend the complex.

"Hurry! This way!" He shouted as he waved another group of Britannian civilians who'd been wounded by rioting Honorary Britannians into the security cordon.

Gunfire echoed out from a high-rise before one of the tanks blew it apart with a demolition round, part of the office complex collapsing onto the rioters and insurgents inside, crushing them all.

" _Why'd it have to come to this!?"_ X wondered, knowing he and C2 would be forced to come to blows.

* * *

From atop the main building of the HQ, the Irregulars watched the Ghettos burn as faint tracer shots in the far distance showed the Black Knights path of advance.

"So… this is our rematch then…" Sancia whispered as she lowered her scope.

"Hell of a rematch…" Dalaque mumbled. "No wonder Colonel Madd sent us here, all we have to do is follow boy blue right to our target…"

"And then we pounce on her." Mao finished for them.

* * *

 **Atsugi Ghetto, Area 11.**

Gunfire raged as the Black Knights advanced on the Atsugi automated defense line, waves of R1 Reploids piloting ride armors backed tank and aircraft mechaniloids engaging the Black Knights, buying time for Cornelia to regroup her forces.

Soon enough they were swept aside, having fulfilled their objective.

* * *

Inside the _Princess Nunnally_ , Zero stood up. ="KILL CORNELIA AND LIATH AND THE DAY WILL BE OURS!"= He declared, knowing fully that his sister and the Executrix would be giving the same orders regarding himself. ="You all have your orders, now be ready!"= He stated as he walked forwards from the command throne, C2 following shortly thereafter, having been waiting at his side not unlike a Britannian Royal's knight.

="Diethard, have Todoh handle the frontline, I'm leaving _you_ in charge here."= He stated as he walked out, Nemo getting up and following him out as well.

"Yes, very well Zero." Diethard acknowledged.

The door to the bridge hissed open as he walked up to it, revealing Kaguya standing there.

="You're Sumeragi's…"=

" _What's with this sassy lost child…?"_ C2 thought, not amused in the slightest by the interruption.

Still, Sumeragi had her on edge, as she was the only member of the Kyoto House aside from Kubouin who'd willingly thrown their lot in with Zero after the SAZ 'incident' as more than a means of saving face.

Either she wasn't as ditzy as she seemed, or she was just prone to moments of insight.

C2 was personally betting on the former.

She hoped it was the former otherwise she'd look like an idiot.

"Thank goodness I made it in time!" Kaguya chirped happily before pouting. "That was so _mean_ of you the way you headed off to battle without me!"

Nemo, Lelouch, and C2 all had roughly the same thought regarding that. _"What…?"_

"I've been a _huuuge_ fan of yours ever since your big debut!" She said, C2 remaining unconvinced by her act. "I was hoping that I'd finally get a chance to talk to you." She said before reaching up. "Wow! You're really tall aren't you…" The fourteen-year-old noted almost childishly, testing Lelouch's patience. "Don't worry! I'll catch up to you soon enough!"

"L… Lady Kaguya!" Diethard gasped. "I thought the heads of the six houses still in Japan had remained in Fuji!"

"I followed after you!" She said before looking away coyly. "So I could watch my future _husband_ fight!"

C2 resisted the urge to snort in amusement.

She could sense Lelouch's irritation with her already.

Nemo and Diethard looked at Kaguya like she'd grown a second head.

="Don't joke around."= Zero stated, Lelouch trying to prevent his annoyance from rearing its ugly head.

"Well, once you win this battle, you'll eventually need a wife, won't you?" She asked as she preened herself, trying to look either more attractive or cuter.

Nobody was sure which.

"I mean, I know your identity is a big secret and all, but you're gonna need someone as your public face, right?" She asked, her real goal becoming clear to Lelouch.

" _Clever little minx."_ C2 thought approvingly.

Once again, Lelouch's mortal enemy just so happened to always be women outsmarting him by acting impulsively.

="Really? You believe we're going to _win_ this battle?"= Zero asked, causing C2 to pause as she took that admission in.

That Lelouch himself was unsure of their chances overall.

Then again, they were actually at least a _month_ off from being fully ready to launch the uprising, most of their equipment and trained cells were still out of position, and proper orders hadn't been issued to most of them, leaving the bulk of their forces as literally untrained militia and a variety of forces that would have issues following a well defined chain of command.

"Of course! I am the goddess of victory after all!" Kaguya said smugly.

"I thought that was Cornelia?" C2 mumbled just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Zero tilted his head back at her, a sign that if it were possible, he'd be glaring at the Reploid.

He turned his attention back to Kaguya. ="I'd be lucky to have you then."= He told her. ="Unfortunately I've already made a contract with the _devil_."= He apologized, Nemo blinking as Kaguya leaned forwards slightly, confused.

="Therefore, I have no room in my life for deities right now, only demons and war machines."= Zero stated as he walked past her, C2 and Nemo in tow, leaving an even more confused Kaguya in their wake as C2's metal footfalls drowned out all else in the silence.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Code R Biomechanical Research Facility, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"HURRY! WE HAVE TO GET THIS EXPERIMENTAL SUBJECT BACK TO THE HOMELAND!" Bartley shouted as the researchers worked quickly to get their subject, and the vaguely leaf shaped transformable Knight Giga Fortress, prepped for air transport.

The other unit they'd produced, Siegfried, had already been shipped off some time ago.

"The pressure!" One of the researchers yelled as an alarm began to blare. "The internal pressure is rising too quickly!"

Bartley swiveled to face the fluid filled tank, hearing the ominous noise of glass beginning to crack.

The tank promptly shattered, exposing the cyborgized Kewell Soresi to the air for the first time in weeks.

"Oh no…" Bartley groaned. "And _now_ of all times!" He said as Kewell got back to his feet slowly.

"Good morning to you, it was…" The man stated, glaring at Bartley.

All the while Colonel Madd watched from the side, the Reploid grinning with barely restrained glee.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights staging area, Area 11.**

The Gawain took flight, hovering above and ahead of a vast army of vehicles, Ride Armors, Mechaniloids, and Knightmares below.

[="HEAR ME BRITANNIA!"=] Lelouch announced. [="THIS IS _ZERO_!"=]

* * *

Inside the cockpit, he removed his mask. "A rebel against oppressors who abuse their power!" He declared as he looked out towards the lights of the settlement. "We will wait until _midnight_! You have until then to surrender to _me_!" Lelouch proclaimed. "This is your _only_ warning! Heed it! You have until twelve midnight exactly, not a _single_ second later."

He activated a countdown timer.

* * *

 **SAZ, Japan.**

With a royal guard Gloucester clutched in its clamps, a T-4 VTOL roared into the sky, unnoticed by the few Japanese out and about.

["General Darlton, I'm afraid that Princess Cornelia has ordered me to hand you over to the MPs upon our return."] The pilot apologized.

"What… For…?" The wounded man asked.

["She believes you've been compromised by Zero after I relayed what you said about your blackout to her…"] The man replied.

"I see, then I accept her orders…" Darlton acknowledged, knowing Cornelia had the best interests of the Empire in mind.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Your little bluff is meaningless Zero, I've already removed your ability to take down our walls and the interior areas." Cornelia scoffed as she watched the clock count down as well.

She gave the order, instructed her forces to take defensive positions, but _not_ on several sections of the settlement wall that she'd pre-designated.

" _Still… It's a good idea… Mind if I borrow it?"_ She thought with a smug grin growing on her face.

* * *

 **Black Knights Staging Area, Area 11.**

"You can still turn back you know." Nemo stated to Lelouch. "Your actions here will affect more than just Area 11… You, and this entire world, will be steeped in war."

"I'm aware of that… And yet, all the same." He began before his phone rang, Lelouch picking it up.

The caller ID read 'Euphemia'.

He gasped. _"Euphie…? How is this possible…? No… It must be an impostor."_

He picked up the call.

["Lelouch… It's me…"] Suzaku's raspy voice answered.

"Suzaku… Why are you calling me now…?" Lelouch asked warily, the hairs on his neck prickling up at his friend's tone.

["Lelouch… Are you at the school?"] Suzaku asked him.

"No, but I will be soon." Lelouch replied truthfully, worry beginning to set in given what Nunnally had told him about Suzaku and Euphie being 'close'.

["I see, I called because there's something I want you to tell everyone for me."] He explained.

"Yes, and what would that be…?"

["The sky… Make sure no one looks up at the sky."] He said cryptically.

"What…?"

["Lelouch… Is there anyone you could ever hate so much that you want to do more than simply kill them? But to make them cease to have existed in their entirety?"] Suzaku asked him.

" _So, that's how it is then…"_ He thought.

Lelouch closed his eyes, accepting what destiny had decided for him. "Yes, there is." He replied, remembering Mao, Gareth, Berkana…

And the Emperor…

["I used to feel that sort of thinking was unacceptable… That unless you followed the rules, killing someone was just… Murder…"] Suzaku explained to him. ["Executrix Liath told me that sometimes there's a person too dangerous to let live, even if you're told otherwise… I didn't believe her at first, at least, for the most part… But now… I see where she's coming from... It's _hatred_ that's guiding me."] He admitted. ["I'm fighting to _kill_ someone, to end their very existence..."]

There was a brief pause before Suzaku continued. ["I'm going to become a murderer in the skies above Tokyo. So please…"]

"Embrace your hate." Lelouch interrupted, having come to terms with Suzaku wishing worse than his death.

There was a gasp at the other end of the line.

"Just think of Euphie." He told his now former friend. "I made my own mind up long ago… I have no intention of turning back." He hinted.

["For Nunnally you mean…"]

"Yes…"

There was another pause as Lelouch watched the time run down. "I have to go now."

["Thank you, Lelouch…"]

He smirked. "Forget about it, I mean, you and I are friends after all."

["For the last seven years…"] Suzaku noted.

"Right, see ya then."

["Yeah. Later."] His unknowing former friend replied.

Lelouch hung up just as the timer hit midnight.

And _nothing_ happened.

Lelouch's eye twitched before he began to laugh, not even mad in the slightest as he realized that Colonel and Cornelia would naturally have drawn up contingencies in the event his powers be proven to exist. "I should've known that she'd be so thorough! That they'd've intercepted all of my Geassed agents!" He cackled as Nemo glanced over her shoulder at him. "Well now Cornelia, I guess it's your move! Let's see who's the better commander!" He chuckled with mad glee.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement Border Wall, Area 11.**

Cornelia smirked as she watched a timer on the TACNET screen count down from the cockpit of her Bors. "Blow the labeled sections." She ordered.

["Yes, Your Highness!"]

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Staging Area, Area 11.**

C2 and Rokusho watched as several key sections of the wall collapsed, followed by several sections of the settlement proper, which formed ramps leading to the upper levels as a result.

"Oh no…" The green-armored Reploid whispered.

"I see it too… They've created kill-zones…" Her second on Squad Seven agreed.

"Well, there goes our numbers advantage…" C2 sighed as she rubbed the back of her head. "Looks like we're bashing our skulls against the wall the hard way."

"Let's hope we have the troops after this to hold the Settlement."

"Agreed." She replied.

["All forces are to begin an advance under the cover of artillery fire! All helicopter, VTOL, and air wings! Engage at full speed after Kusukabe's forces perform their role!"] Zero ordered as a wave of fire rippled out towards the settlement, while aircraft roared overhead, waiting for the order to pounce.

A furious _"BANZAI!"_ rose from the army they'd assembled as the Black Knights surged forth.

"Of course, knowing Zero, he'll have ways around this…" C2 admitted as the APC she and Rokusho were sitting on rumbled forwards as well, joining the great push and what would the deciding battle of the Black Rebellion.

* * *

Inside the Gawain, Lelouch chuckled. "Colonel Kusukabe, fire the Type 4s at the designated locations I'm sending." He ordered as he tapped a button on his console.

["At once Zero!"] The Colonel replied.

Lelouch smirked and cut the comm line.

Shortly thereafter over three dozen painstakingly acquired Type 4D cruise missiles flew over the Britannian defense line, the missiles breaking open and dispersing sub-munitions over the enemy forces, ripping them apart and clearing his line of advance for the moment.

 _"Dear sister, did you honestly believe I hadn't planned for the possibility that my infiltrators would fail? Against anyone else your plan would've worked perfectly, but like you, I don't fall for the same tricks twice."_ He thought before turning his attention to other matters.

"These hands of mine have been dirty for a _long_ time now Suzaku." He monologued to himself, knowing Nemo was likely only tacitly paying attention as he tightened his gloves. "Your coming to face me now doesn't matter at all. _Hell_ , I **welcome** it even." He stated smugly as he watched the Britannians scramble to reform their lines before the airstrikes and a second round of artillery disrupted their efforts. "I mean of course, you and I _are_ **friends**." He said as he began to chuckle again, while the Britannian air defense units and fighter squadrons engaged his air forces, tracers, SAMs, and flak shooting up from the ground while air to air missiles streaked across the skies, either detonating harmlessly in mid-air or striking aircraft and swatting them down like gnats.

All the while, Lelouch's laughter became increasingly deranged while flames spread through the settlement as missiles, shells, bombs, and fallen aircraft rained down upon the silver blight that marred the natural beauty of Tokyo bay.

"Destruction and the loss of everything. That's right. Destruction _always_ comes before creation. And for that goal, even my own conscience must be cast aside." He chuckled as he calmed down. "The only path _left_ for me is **straight ahead**." Lelouch said as he grinned madly.

" _Now then_ …"

* * *

 **AN:** **And thus, the final battle begins, this time with Cornelia better prepared for Lelouch's attack and most of her troops, and the city for that matter, intact.**

 **But the real question is will it actually matter in the face of intense urban fighting and ongoing rioting inside the settlement and Ghettos?**

 **Stay tuned to find out!**


	26. Stage 26: Battle, Tokyo

**AN: This chapter will feature story moments, but will mostly focus on the chaos of the battle itself.**

 **In short, the events are taking place near simultaneously at times.**

 **Which means that due to that, chapter'll be shorter than normal.**

 **Also after a PM from Sobran, I decided to change my plan for Iris, in that she's not so much as insane a** **s she is emotionally unstable and having a secretly planted sub-program activating due to Colonel's damage.**

 **On another note, I had too much fun with that massive Medabots reference.**

* * *

 **"There's no mercy in war. It's a collision of powers."-Larry "Solo Wing Pixy" Foulke, _Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War._**

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Code R facility, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Code R… I see…" Kewell purred as he looked over the data of both variants of Code R's work. "By integrating Reploid technology into my body, you've given me an abnormally high active electric potential and boosted my neurofilaments." He noted as a squad of R1s held him at gunpoint while Bartley watched nervously.

He took a step back to face Bartley. "Oh how understanding is such a happiness! You wanted me experimented on in order to develop human soldiers who could compete with Reploids, didn't you?"

"Stop it!" Bartley pleaded. "Code R was studied to enhance our understanding of how to evolve humans in sync with the development of Reploid technology! Regardless, won't you calm down, your brain cells were destroyed past the Circle of Willis arteries, so-"

"SPARE ME THE EXCUSES!" Kewell snapped. "You're the one who gave me like this because you hated me for being part of Jeremiah's attempt to send you back to the homeland!"

Bartley took a cautious step forwards. "Look, I'll hear anything you have to say, but first we have to return to the homeland! We can't carry on a conversation in a situation like this!"

["HEAR ME BRITANNIA!"] Zero's voice boomed over all channels. ["THIS IS ZERO!"]

"Zero…!?" Kewell gasped, his body contorting as he began to remember whose fault it was that Code R even put him in this state.

["A rebel against oppressors who abuse their power! We will wait until midnight! You have until then your surrender to **me**!"] Zero declared as a researcher walked up to Bartley and whispered into his ear.

"Through the entire settlement!?" He asked, shocked at how quickly things had gone downhill.

"He's on _every_ communications channel."

"Do we have any link to the outside?!"

Bartley never noticed Colonel Madd leaving the room.

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Block Control Room 8, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

A single shot echoed out in control room eight, as the tech on the far right slumped over his controls, the upper half of his head missing and the R1 Reploid standing behind him lowering its weapon.

["SCHHKT!"] The unit shrieked as it swept about, looking for any further sign of interference in the operations of the settlement from anyone else.

More confirmations came out over the comm net as R1 units decisively slaughtered Lelouch's Geassed agents in every block control room before they could even begin their work.

Unfortunately for Britannia, Lelouch had contemplated this eventuality and set up backup plans.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB. (Current time)**

 **G-1** _ **Princess Nunnally**_ **, Area 11.**

"Wow! Those missiles sure did a number on the Britannian forces!" Kaguya gasped in awe as Cornelia's first defense line was shredded by the cluster munitions before it could be used to full effect.

"Hmm… Still, it appears Zero's collaborators were outed and likely killed, which may make our job more difficult." Diethard noted dryly as the Black Knights advanced under the cover of artillery and air strikes up the avenues of approach Cornelia had so helpfully provided.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Area 11**.

Lelouch chuckled as he watched his troops stream towards the enemy lines along the routes Cornelia had made, intending them to be kill-corridors, only to give the Black Knights easy road access to the settlement itself.

He wasn't even mad, as the vast bulk of the city was still intact, minimizing civilian casualties and allowing most of the infrastructure to survive, which would make defending it easier as they'd be able to repair the defense grid much quicker.

"Once we show images to the world of us capturing the Government Bureau, along with our declaration of independence, then he'll be forced to face me, as chaos would very possibly spread to the other areas rapidly, combined with China making moves against Area 12 and Area 11, while the EU's threat to Area 18 would keep those troops occupied, thus forcing Britannia to begin deploying most of its forces in the Americas in response, and leaving them with little choice but to conscript more Honorary Britannians into the Foreign Legion for internal security as it would take too long to ramp up Reploid production in the short term, not a sound strategy when the former could just as easily join the revolts, especially once the footage of the SAZ is released." Lelouch said smugly, his full, and hastily modified, plan coming into play, hopefully.

"And if I can get him… Get the Britannian Emperor to meet me one on one to negotiate over this… Then all of the pieces will fall into my hands…"

Still it was a long shot, and C2's complete and utter silence on this plan from the minute he'd told her about said a _lot_ about her opinion of its odds of success.

 _"Well, nobody ever said making miracles was easy..."_

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["How's the enemy's air power look?"] Todoh asked as he looked around the marshaling area in the settlement interior.

["Our allied groups are concentrating on striking them hard in each sector, the rest of them are around the Izu areas, and the Sado and Awaji islands. They'll get no reinforcements in the short term. Which leaves their immediate forces, which we have already engaged in battle."] Chiba replied.

["Then the time is right, now's our chance!"] Todoh mumbled. ["FOR JAPAN! ATTACK!"] He ordered as his forces rushed forwards, armored vehicles, Ride Armors, reprogrammed Mechaniloids, Burais, Tierens, Panzer-Hummels, Kalinkas, Sutherlands, Glasgows, Gloucesters, Liverpools, Gun-Rus, and improvised fighting vehicles surging forth as a cry of 'Nippon Banzai' rose from the collective throats of Lelouch's forces.

* * *

["Ridgeback 2! Break! Break!"] Someone shouted as Kei Nagase, Ridgeback 2, brought her F-84 Hayate around, pulling way back on the stick, the sleek 4th Gen fighter performing a high G turn while emptying a canister of flares and chaff to avoid a Britannian sparrow missile, which passed her outside of its proximity fusing range and detonated harmlessly thanks to the maneuver and the added measures of chaff and ECM.

"Thanks Priest 2!" She shouted as she slotted in on an F-109 Foxhound, the Britannian jet pulling hard Gs in an attempt to evade a lock.

Her Hayate could maneuver much harder though.

The seekers on her Type 48 AAMs growled like dogs on a leash as they locked on, demanding to be let loose.

"Solid tone! Fox 2!"

An infrared guided missile lanced out from a twin rail pylon under one of her wings and snapped towards the Britannian jet, detonating in close proximity to the rear of the plane and blowing off one of the enemy aircraft's vertical stabilizers, riddling the fuselage with holes from shrapnel, and setting an engine aflame.

The wounded plane sped off and she watched out the corner of her eye as the Brit pilot punched out once they'd reached Britannian lines, the now directionless Foxhound falling from the sky soon after, something, possibly a venting fuel line, exploding on the rear while it augured into the side of an apartment complex.

The fighter's wingman, himself missing much of his left wing, sped off before he could be targeted.

["This is Wizard 3, I've got one on me!"] A MiG-19 pilot shouted as his 'Farmer' sped by, being chased down by an F-14D Skyfang, a two-seater to be precise, with markings she didn't recognize. ["He's all over-"] Wizard 3 began before a burst of gunfire tore his Soviet made 4th Gen fighter apart, the Skyfang banking and screaming away from the flaming wreck as it spiraled towards the settlement below.

She saw no parachute.

["Wizard 3! Damnit! Who is that guy!? He's going for gun kills instead of missiles!?"] Wyvern 7 remarked as the Skyfang swept upwards into the furball.

["This guy... He's like a predator... The weak... They're getting eaten!"] Wizard 6 panted in terror before their comms cut out.

"This is Ridgeback 2, engaging!" Nagase confirmed as she turned towards the Skyfang, her now cooled seekers searching for a missile lock on the more advanced 5th Gen plane and its low-observable characteristics.

In a split second the Skyfang had flashed past her before she could fire her plane's cannon.

["Hayabusa 5! Break! Break!"] Someone urgently shouted as Nagase pulled her fighter into a split S to get around at the enemy ace.

["No time!"] Haybausa 5 screamed as a flash illuminated the sky in front of Kei's fighter as a fireball shot past her.

The woman turned her head to see Hayabusa 5's flaming F-7 Reppu burst apart as the Skyfang suddenly nosed up in a spitting cobra maneuver and caused her to overshoot, the Britannian aircraft kicking up its afterburners and screaming off in another direction at high speed before she could maneuver after it.

"DAMNIT!" She snarled, resisting the urge to slam her fist against something.

["Ridgeback 2, this is Ridgeback 3, you've picked up a tail!"] Rideback 3 reported as an F-11 Sea Vixen screamed in behind her.

"Roger that!" She replied as she maneuvered hard to avoid getting locked, the single seat Britannian Naval fighter not following her into the turn.

Scrambling with the controls, she put the Hayabusa into pirouette to bleed altitude and locked onto the Sea Vixen's six as it passed under her, the Britannian pilot having refused to put his larger and heavier aircraft at an energy disadvantage against her. The seekers of her infrared missiles humming in her ear again as they searched for the target after cooling. "Fox 3! Fox 3!" She barked as she fired an active radar homing missile at the enemy plane, which had already begun maneuvering and dispensing countermeasures in an attempt to evade.

Struggling with her plane as she raced to regain the energy she expended, she watched the Sea Vixen fly off after visually reacquiring it, the F-11 having evaded the missile successfully.

" _Damn…"_

["Ridgeback 2 This is Priest 2! You've got a Somerset angling on you!"] Someone warned her, causing her to bank as a slash harken flashed past her fighter.

"Thanks Priest 2!" She acknowledged as she increased her thrust to regain energy and slotted in behind the relatively slow moving KMF, shooting it down with a burst of gunfire to the cockpit pod after making her call, the figuratively decapitated machine lazily falling out of the sky afterward.

* * *

["You didn't have to keep toying with them."] A Britannian pilot noted as the F-14 Skyfang belonging to Sol 1 rejoined formation with its squadron.

["I wanted to see their determination, how they fought. Live combat is different then playing with repackaged data from the Rounds."] Sol 1 replied as Sol squadron banked as one and flew towards a wave of incoming insurgent aircraft.

["Understood, after you Archange."] Sol 2 acknowledged as they re-engaged the enemy.

* * *

Private Darrell Grant, of the Britannian Army, never really assumed he'd ever be going into actual combat when he'd been suddenly assigned to Area 11.

Not the first time he regretted not paying attention to the news or the Mess Hall chatter.

" _Good thing I ain't a gambling man, 'woulda never left Harlem…"_ He thought dryly as he covered his squadmates on the anti-armor team hiding in a Chinese restaurant they'd occupied.

He flexed his finger on the trigger of his rifle as he spotted a group of Japanese Militia wearing improvised equipment and hastily applied Black Knights markings on their clothing rush into the intersection.

A machine gun position in a third-story window up the street opened fire, cutting them down to the last.

" _A dozen goddamn people just ran to their deaths because they're all hopped up on revenge and whatever fantasy Zero's promised them… It's like everyone's gone goddamn crazy."_ He thought as his squad waited, not wanting to give their position away.

A Sutherland in Black Knights colors poked out of a sidestreet with a single lane road and scanned the area with its factsphere, likely looking for the MG nest.

"FIRE!" The Corporal in charge of his squad ordered as everyone got down except for the AT team, a single M72 LAW firing off in coil assist mode as a result, the launcher's somewhat diluted backblast spewing down the bathroom hallway of the restaurant, knocking off whatever loose objects were on the walls, and spearing the Sutherland in the cockpit with a HEAT rocket before it could react, causing it to collapse into a heap and block the road for the moment as smoke billowed from the hole in its command pod.

"MOVE! MOVE!" Someone shouted urgently as the squad picked up and moved to the next position, knowing that it was safer to move than risk having been seen.

And not a moment too soon, as a pair of Ride Armors that had just appeared fired their heavy cannons into the building shortly after it had been vacated and totally collapsed the storefront.

* * *

Gennai Konya rushed up a sidestreet, clutching his Kalashnikov coil rifle close to his chest as technical rolled past him, bed-mounted twin AA gun firing away at a Britannian strongpoint.

The Veteran Black Knight hit the ground and panted as the technical suddenly burst into a fireball as a Britannian multipurpose shell hit it.

"TAAAAAANNNK!" Someone screamed as a Britannian M103 super heavy tank rumbled backwards to the next defense line, one of its two 120mm guns depressing while the turret swiveled to face a group of around seven irregulars who'd froze up.

"MOVE! MOVE YOU IDIOTS!" Konya yelled at them as one tried to aim the RPG-7 he had at the enemy armor.

The tank fired, the multipurpose high explosive shell blowing their bodies apart as Konya ducked his head down. "FUCKING MORONS!" He screamed as he crawled up behind a ruined wall while a Britannian soldier took shots at him from across the street, one bullet whizzing just past his helmet.

A salvo of auto-rifle shells from a Kalinka blew apart the position that he was taking fire from.

Standing back up, Konya saw a flash from far up the street.

He barely had a chance to register it as a sniper's muzzle flash before the round tore through the left eye socket of the man behind him, his squad leader no less, and exited through the back of his skull, spraying gore all over one of the hapless militia who'd been crouched against the wall as his body collapsed like a ragdoll, his rifle clattering to the ground.

"FUCK!" He shouted as he dove down again. "SNIPER! SUPPRESS THAT POSITION!" He barked as captured M42 Duster swiveled its turret up the street and spat 40mm shells downrange from its twin guns, tearing through the windows and facades of the building where the shot had come from.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Soviet Consulate, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Consul Vinogradov frowned as he and his staff waited in the Consulate's bomb shelter. Protected by some of the finest soldiers the Motherland could spare.

Which would not be nearly enough if they were attacked in force.

And yet, he knew Zero and the Black Knights were hardly concerned about him, the diplomatic areas were likely to be spared otherwise they'd invite the ire of more nations than the soon to be exhausted Black Knights knew they could deal with.

Or at least he hoped Zero wasn't that idiotically suicidal.

The shelter shook as something exploded on the surface above.

"What was that?!" Someone gasped in fear.

"Probably another aircraft falling from the sky." Vinogradov replied to calm them. "Zero is many things, but blatantly stupid is not one of them. To attack Soviet soil when he already has the full might of Britannia to deal with would be the end of him." The Consul told his subordinates.

They nodded and accepted his logic.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Squads of Knightmares danced and weaved through the streets of the settlement, exchanging fire as they raced down alleys and around city blocks.

["Carmichael squad has been wiped out!"] Someone shouted over the Britannian tactical comms.

["What about Arron team!?"] A controller asked as a Burai team was destroyed by a Gloucester.

["We don't know! They stayed behind as a rear guard and we haven't seen them since!"]

["More enemy units moving up! Where do we fall back to!?"]

* * *

A Knightpolice unit, minus one of its arms, was backed up against a wall by a Black Knights Sutherland.

["SAY YOUR PRAYERS BRITANNIAN PIG!"] The Sutherland pilot shouted before they went down in a hail of gunfire from above, the Knightmare billowing smoke as it fell.

Landing in front of the Knightpolice unit was _another_ Sutherland, this one wearing the markings of the Pureblood faction.

"GO! NOW! PRINCESS CORNELIA HAS ORDERED US TO PERFORM A FIGHTING WITHDRAWAL TO THE GOVERNMENT BUREAU" Jeremiah shouted to the Knightpolice officer, whom obliged as they retreated.

He turned his attention to a mixed bag of about ten or so Black Knights Knightmares approaching him, likely a breakthrough force.

["What the!? A Pureblood unit!?"] One of them gasped.

["I thought the Tokyo chapter had been dissolved to due to a lack of interested recruits!?"] Another muttered in shock.

Jeremiah grinned as he drew one of the MVS blades from his Sutherland's scabbards and picked up a riot shield from a fallen security Glasgow. "I, JEREMIAH GOTTWALD, DECREE THAT NONE OF YOU KNAVES SHALL PASS ME WHILE I STAND!" He shouted over his external speakers.

["ORANGE!?"]

["COME ON YOU GUYS! WE OUTNUMBER HIM LIKE TWENTY TO ONE AND IT'S JUST A SUTHERLAND!"] Another, more eager pilot remarked.

Jeremiah sneered at them. "THEN MEET YOUR END FOOLS!" He yelled as he charged towards them, his MVS sword humming ominously. "I'LL DEFEAT EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU TO PROVE MY LOYALTY! NOW WITNESS THE POWER OF THE SUTHERLAND!" Jeremiah screamed as he began slicing his way through the off-guard Knightmares, downing three in quick succession before they could react. " **ALL! HAIL!** **BRIIIITAAAANNIIIIAAAA!** "

* * *

Nagase inverted her fighter as she dove back in on a Skyfang, which boasted unique squadron markings, similar to but not the same as the last one she'd engaged, as it appeared in her line of sight again.

Panting heavily from the adrenaline as she waited for a solid tone, she watched the aircraft juke and bank away.

"Not so fast you bastard!" She snarled as she followed it into the turn.

["Ridgeback 2! You've got a bandit on your tail!"] Someone warned her.

She shot her head over her shoulder, sure enough another Skyfang, this one with similar markings to the one she was currently chasing, had slotted in on her tail.

Her RWR screamed in her ear like the horrid banshee it was as the enemy plane acquired a lock.

"I'm spiked!" She called out.

She then heard her MWS blare and braced herself for the detonation as a missile dropped out from a weapons bay underneath the Skyfang and ignited its motor.

"Damnit! Ejecting!"

Once the shockwaved passed, she pulled the ejection handle and punched out, the canopy blowing off just before her ejection seat would have slammed her into it as it propelled itself free of her doomed aircraft, thanking the gods her plane held together long enough for her to bail.

As the slipstream tore at her flightsuit and helmet, she watched the Skyfang with the yellow underbelly, wingtips and tails pass by her flaming F-84 as it spiraled down towards the settlement and slammed into a sunken open air shopping mall in a park where it blossomed into a brilliant fireball.

There was a yellow aircraft number marked on the side to identify that particular plane, barely illuminated by its formation lights.

013.

"Damnit…" She groaned as she floated back down to Earth.

* * *

"Aquilla 2, status."

["I'm alright, just some minor damage... But we've got more incoming."] She replied as her Skyfang slid into formation with his, quickly joined by the other six members of Aquilla Squadron who'd sortied.

Aquilla 1 turned his head to look at the incoming force of Black Knights planes, largely 3rd Gen aircraft like swing-winged MiG-17 Frescoes, blocky two-seat English Electric Lightnings, double delta winged SAAB 32 Lansens, and swept high wing Dassault Mystères.

While normally little threat, they'd had the good fortune to arrive just as the Britannians were running low on ammunition and fuel.

"Aquilla 1 to Aquilla, new plan, lure as many as possible out over the fleet when we RTB to Yokosuka." He instructed.

["Sir!"] The rest of the 156th TFS acknowledged as their aircraft turned and headed out to sea.

Several opportunistic MiG-17 'Frescos' followed after them, variable sweep wings swinging back as they accelerated after the fleeing Yellow Squadron.

And to their doom.

* * *

Darrell Grant let loose a short burst of automatic gunfire off at the enemy forces pursuing him. "Keep moving!" His platoon sergeant shouted as they fell back to the next defense line.

He didn't want to know what the enemy would do to the wounded they'd been forced to leave behind.

Stooping down low as they paused, he spotted a position under intense fire from a trio of technicals and a Chinese AA trailer being used for direct fire.

"Sergeant! There's friendlies under fire over there!" He shouted, drawing the woman's attention.

"We can't afford to help them private!" She yelled back pragmatically.

He activated his factgoggles and froze, inside the building, behind what remained of a Britannian infantry squad, was a group of terrified civilians.

"SARGE! THERE'S CIVVIES IN THERE TOO!" He shouted.

That got them to pause.

"They'll get slaughtered as reprisals, Zero can wax poetic about justice all he wants, those militia he's got want blood…" Someone muttered as the platoon readied their weapons.

Suddenly, all three technicals burst into flames, followed by the AA gun trailer, the few infantry who'd been moving up trying to run before they too were cut down in a hail of fire.

The culprits promptly rappelled down from above, wearing black and violet versions of Britannian BDUs.

One of them marched over to Darrell's squad. ="SOG Pluton, we'll handle the situation here, you grunts keep moving."= They said, a grating voice modulator muffling their speech.

"We weren't expecting special forces." Darrell's platoon sergeant noted as the man turned and walked off.

="That's the point sergeant."= They said, the Pluton team vanishing as quickly as they appeared, leaving the regulars to regroup with those across the street and continue withdrawing.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **O'Hare field, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

A company of Knightmares and armored units moved on O'Hare field, attempting to seize it and prevent the Britannian forces from launching any more aircraft from it.

Izumi sweated as his Raikou battery moved up to shell the runway.

"Standby…" He whispered as an explosion tore through the lines ahead of him. "What!?"

Lurching out of the smoke was an immense Britannian super-heavy tank, a casemate hulled vehicle the size of a small landcruiser.

* * *

"Arc Beetle Four is engaging." Someone reported on the bridge of the landed _Morgan le Fay_.

Liath grinned behind her mask, knowing that their attackers would be destroyed or so heavily weakened so as to be unable to push without reinforcement.

* * *

"Fire!" Izumi yelled as the four Raikous of special battery six fired off, their cannons thundering as they dispensed canister shells loaded with ball bearings downrange at tremendous velocity.

The rounds impacted the M-28, obscuring it in smoke and fire.

["Target destroyed sir! Nothing could've survived that!"] Someone reported.

"Wait… What the hell…?!" Izumi gasped as he spotted movement on his factspheres.

The tank lurched out of the haze, the green shimmer of its blaze luminous fading.

"THEY PUT IT ON A TANK TOO!?"

* * *

 **="I told Asplund that the Blaze Luminous would be very useful for warship sized combatants outside of our air fleets. Turns out he figured super tanks would be another way to deploy it."=** Liath giggled as she watched the tank charge up its primary cannon on the _le Fay's_ bridge screens. = **"Now, can they stand up to the power of the midnight sun?"=**

If she were to be honest, she was having a bit too much fun with this.

* * *

"BEHOLD, THE PILLAR OF FIRE! THE _PROMINENCE_!" The M-28's commander shouted at the top of his lungs as the 18cm hadron cannon fired, sweeping a blast across Izumi's forces and wiping most of them out almost instantly with a stream of red and black hellfire.

"Firing tri-beam pulse lasers." One of the gunners reported as six beams of blue light pulsed out from two triple emitter turrets atop the tank, spearing through the surviving Burais, Sutherlands, Glasgows, Liverpools, Gun-Rus, Tierens, Kalinkas, and Panzer-Hummels, immolating their Yggdrasil drives and sending them up in flames while the infantry and light vehicles retreated, dragging off what wounded they could in the process.

Six AV-1 Cobras and four Type-50 Inugami attack helicopters swooped towards the M-28, hoping to avenge their comrades.

* * *

"This is Hellhound 1, commencing attack." The pilot of the lead gunship reported as their gunner fired a pair of ATGMs at the tank in sequence, joined by the other aircraft.

* * *

["CIWS active."] The tank's computer reported as the pulse lasers fired off, followed by streams of 20mm rounds from the two phalanx guns mounted on the rear of the machine, sweeping most of the missiles from the sky, those that survived impacted the Blaze Luminous harmlessly.

"All weapons intercepted." The gunner mumbled as the group fired another salvo, the dull chatter of the 20mm linear vulcans thundering through the cramped fighting compartment of the M-28, which was quite well air conditioned for an armored fighting vehicle due to the substantial cooling requirements for the hadron cannon and pulse lasers.

"Second wave incoming!"

"FCS has lock on enemy gunships, capacitors fully recycled, cooling systems ready." The gunner reported.

"FIRE THE PROMINENCE! SWAT THEM LIKE THE BUGS THEY ARE!" The commander ordered.

"Yes, my lord!"

* * *

["Lead, we've got a spike in the tank's heat signature!"] Hellhound 8 reported as the second salvo was also speared from the sky.

"EVADE! EVADE!" Hellhound 1 shouted as the gunships scrambled to move out of the way as the hadron gun fired again, sending over half their number down in flames.

* * *

["Hostile units withdrawing."]

 **="Recall Arc Beetle Four, the last thing we need is Zero getting any ideas about using the Gawain against it."=** Liath ordered after a moment of observation.

["Yes, your eminence."]

* * *

 **Tokyo settlement, Area 11.**

Samantha Jackson frowned as her M60A1 lurched around a corner.

"Identified! KMF!" Her gunner yelled as a Gun-Ru turned to face them.

"KMF! Load HEAT!"

"Up!"

She checked the range and made minute adjustments. "Fire!"

The 105mm linear gun thundered, the gun's breech recoiling back into the cramped and hot fighting compartment as it sent the HEAT shell downrange, the round by sheer chance slamming directly into the Gun-Ru's Yggdrasil drive instead of the locomotion unit and detonating the frog-like machine.

"Target!"

She smirked and slapped her gunner on the back of his helmet. "Nice shot! Driver, get us out of here!"

The M60 reversed as an _enemy_ M60 with hastily applied Black Knights markings rumbled up the street, another tank in Jackon's platoon moving up and firing at it, the shell bouncing off its turret roof.

["Smith! Did you calibrate your Darwindamned MRS and boresight properly!?"] Their company commander demanded as Ranger 2-3 reported the glancing blow.

["We got roughed up by an airstrike, MRS probably got damaged."] Smith replied sheepishly as his tank withdrew, the enemy shell missing his vehicle and impacting against a warehouse down the street.

Jackson rolled her eyes as her tank lurched up again.

"Gunner! Tank! Ten O'clock! Four hundred meters!" She shouted.

"Identified! Tank!"

"Load! Sabot!"

The clank of the breech slamming shut was heard. "Up!"

"Fire!" She shouted after adjusting the range minutely.

The 105 thundered again, sending a round slamming into the enemy tank's turret, the enemy vehicle slowly withdrawing before it ground to a halt and the surviving crew began to bail.

Jackson snarled and triggered the tank's remote commander's MG, spraying rounds downrange and cutting them apart before they could flee.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Bay, Area 11.**

Admiral Richard Ackerson frowned as his bombardment line shelled Black Knights forces trying to seize Yokohama, watching the explosions of the varying calibers of HE shells as they impacted enemy lines, withe the battleships providing the most impressive looking results while the destroyers, corvettes and frigates simply laid down sheer weight of fire by virtue of their faster firing and loading guns, the gun cruisers and heavy destroyers falling somewhere in-between.

"Admiral!" One of his aides reported as they approached.

"What is it?"

"CIC reports multiple incoming aircraft, looks like some bombers that survived the Invasion."

Ackerson scoffed. "Swat them out of the sky like the flies they are." He ordered as the man saluted.

The Admiral raised his binoculars and looked out the bridge of the heavy guided missile cruiser _Tulsa_ , the current flagship, frowning as he noted that the bombers hadn't yet engaged them with cruise missiles, indicating that either their crews were poorly trained, or the aircraft were carrying actual _bombs_. _"Are they daft or just desperate? The air defenses here would swat far superior strike packages out of the_ _sky!"_

VLS cells on a few of the cruisers, frigates, battleships, and destroyers opened up and spewed fire as terrier missiles roared into the sky once weapons lock had been confirmed on the incoming Black Knights aircraft.

* * *

Kano Ose heard his RWR and MLD scream and maneuvered in an attempt to evade the angry swarm of incoming missiles in his B-4 Hiryuu bomber, cursing his formation lead for sending them directly at the Britannian fleet by not paying attention to the maps.

Unfortunately, by coming at them head on in a large, unmanuverable aircraft, his evasive options were rather limited.

To his right, a Somerset flashed by and smashed the cockpit of his escort with a slash harken, sending the Mitsubishi F-6 careening out of the sky.

A detonation rocked the cockpit, causing the bomber to jerk hard and lose altitude quickly as the blast buffeted it.

He thought he heard a scream from the systems compartment below him, where the WSO and Bombardier were.

["SINK RATE! PULL UP!"] The GPWS shouted unhelpfully into his ear in broken english.

Yanking back hard on the stick on reflex and throttling up the engines, the ex-fighter pilot realized too late what he'd done as he heard a sickening snapping sound from the airframe behind him.

His stalling bomber, already at low altitude in an attempt to evade radar detection and laden to the gills with a near max payload of bombs, owing largely to a lack of missiles, and with its central airframe not _nearly_ as reinforced as the more compact fighters he was used to, ripped itself in two before it slammed into the ground and detonated into a brilliant fireball _seconds_ after the surviving crew pulled their ejection handles.

* * *

Graham Aker watched from his F-12 Wasp as a Black Knight marked F-15 Spiteful, the last of the enemy planes that hadn't fled, spiraled from the sky, trailing smoke and flame behind it.

"This is Flag 1, ascending to Angels 10."

["Negative Flag 1, Jackal Zero is still active, return to The Boat."] His controller replied, using the current codename for the Gawain.

He sighed. "Roger that." Graham replied as he banked his fighter.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Dozens of R1s rushed forwards at a Black Knight position much further down the street from the Maverick Hunter HQ, many being cut down in a rushed panic from the defenders.

However, many more breached the line and entered brutal hand to hand combat with the mostly human troops.

* * *

X frowned as his cameras zoomed out and he leaned against an armored truck that was being used as a roadblock.

"The fighting's getting closer…" He sighed. "You think Zero'll try and assault us?" He asked Armored Armadillo.

"Hard to say, but the HQ is located in a strategic position to allow rapid deployment all over the settlement, there's no way he'll avoid passing it up." The veteran commander of the 8th Armored replied.

X sighed and nodded before he heard a series of dull thumps.

"INCOMING!" One of the troopers shouted as C-RAM guns opened fire on the incoming mortar shells, sniping several out of the sky.

X dove for cover as one of the salvos slammed home.

"ARMORED ARMADILLO!" He shouted as the Armadillo Reploid stood in the open. "GET TO COVER!"

Armored Armadillo huffed and slapped a mortar shell aside with his arm, the round detonating harmlessly in an empty building.

"This is nothing compared to what my design specs are intended to stand against." He replied calmly as a nearby Britannian mortar battery returned fire against the rebel artillery.

X sighed and nodded as he got back out from behind cover.

* * *

Captain Richard Brenner frowned as the last of his troops fell back to the O'Hare field defense line.

"Lin, report." He requested.

["The Black Knights are advancing on Ashford and most of the media sector has already fallen."] She reported. ["But Yokosuka is firmly under our control, Yokohama is currently being heavily contested by the Marines, and the fleet just fought off a large air raid."]

Brenner nodded. "Roger, I guess we're hunkering down for the long haul." He stated as the last stragglers passed his tank, which followed after them while an M247 swatted an Inugami attack helicopter probing the convoy out of the sky with a burst of 40mm fire.

"After all, the Black Knights don't have the resources to back them up in the event of a long term struggle." He mused as he slid down into his vehicle and buttoned up the hatch.

* * *

A Britannian Redback Mechaniloid spider tank stomped through a ruined thoroughfare, the ground too rough to use the landspinners in its feet while the machine's turret swiveled about as it attempted to reconnect to its unit, having been isolated in the chaos.

Stopping, the hexapod automaton knelt down behind part of a shattered office complex that was blocking the street and aimed its 76mm gun at a passing platoon of Black Knights APCs after it detected them with its factspheres.

Combat protocols led it to fire upon the lead vehicle in order to stop the column, an APHE shell racing downrange and penetrating the side of the stolen M75 APC, which promptly burst open like an overripe fruit, smoke and fire belching from hatches, blown welds, and exhaust vents.

The rest of the convoy ground to an immediate halt and swiveled their weapons to engage the Mechaniloid, which ducked down again as insurgent infantry disembarked to flank it.

They barely made it up the street before the Mechaniloid's _two_ cupola mounted .50 caliber linear machine guns and 'pedipalp' mounted 7.62mm coil miniguns opened fire and cut much of their number to pieces.

The machine fired its cannon again, striking another APC.

Before it could fire a third shot, a Gun-Ru motored up behind it and fired a salvo of cannon shots into its rear, the machine slumping down, struggling to rise back up briefly before the Chinese KMF shot it again, this time firing until the Mechaniloid's turret, which it shared with the M92 airborne light tank, billowed flames into the sky as its explosive ammo cooked off and the machine's legs gave out with a hydraulic groan.

* * *

Oda Kagone ran through the streets, his captured Britannian rifle in hand.

Pressing himself up against the wall he panted as he whirled around the corner and fired at a pair of Britannian soldiers attempting to move to the next bit of cover, cutting one of them down.

The second Britannian stumbled and fell to the ground, Oda grinning as he eagerly ran out after them.

And straight into the guns of a trio of waiting R1 units, which tore his body apart in a hail of energy fire.

* * *

A trio of AV-1 Cobras rumbled over the rooftops, Warrant Officer Samuel Williams frowning as his gunship stopped and popped up over a building and fired an ATGM at the gunners command, the missile streaking towards the captured G-1, which intercepted it with its fore mounted CIWS guns.

As his gunner readied to fire again, the under-mounted 127mm gun of the G-1 swiveled to face his gunship and fired, the proximity fused shell turning the Cobra into an fireball and causing his wingmen to break off their attacks.

* * *

Iris made her way through the empty streets, gunfire echoing all around.

Initially she'd believed that it was vengeance for Euphemia driving her.

Slowly, Iris had realized a hidden sub-program had engaged itself, a top-secret backup that would activate in the event Colonel had been disabled or destroyed.

Said program required a patch that had never been installed to complete it, forcing her to utilize her Brother's own core program to try and make up the slack.

Of course, vengeance was still a factor though, but vengeance and duty went hand in hand here.

So she thought, it was hard for her to think now.

 _"Humans... Humans... Why must they do such things... Only Britannia can..."_ She tried to think, stopping and grabbing her head as she shook off the contradictory lines of thought and continued onwards

* * *

A sizable assault force approached the Project Badb facility, consisting of tanks, Knightmares, and Ride Armors, backed by various armored and unarmored vehicles.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS** _ **Mother of Invention**_ **, Pacific Ocean Airspace.**

General marched onto the bridge of the prototype airborne supercarrier _Mother of Invention_ , his towering form eclipsing everyone else in the 'room'.

"ETA?"

"Approximately 0600 local time sir! 0530 if we push it!" The Repliforce trooper manning the navigation console replied.

General nodded as he gazed out over the Storm Owl fleet while it coasted serenely over the cloud layer.

" _Soon… This Rebellion will come to an end. What chance did they think they have in the first place?"_

"Sir!" A comms tech shouted as he swiveled in his chair to face General. "The RAX-04 has just activated!"

General felt a chill run through his frame. _"No... She doesn't have the proper software and hardware adjustments! Her systems can't handle the stress!"_ The golden armored supreme commander of Repliforce thought with some distress.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 laid down suppressing fire from her buster cannon as Squad Seven slowly wormed its way towards one of the main thoroughfares leading to the district containing Ashford Academy.

It was tedious and time consuming given the number of Mets joining the Britannians in taking potshots at them as they went, but there wasn't much other option than being at the mercy of the Britannian security measures in the tunnels.

A shiver ran down her frame at the thought of encountering dug-in Redback Mechaniloid tanks backed by Reploids, sentry guns, and Knightmares in such close confines.

 _"No thank you!"_ She thought as she blasted a Met she'd already stunned with a low charged shot.

* * *

 **AN: Some technical explanations, the T-34 in this timeline is basically the T-62M , with the T-10 being the T-64BM and the T-54 being the BMT-72 (Because it looks nicer than the B3M is all I can say) and the T-55 being the M-84D/M-95 Degman.**

 **Russia's former client states make nicer looking tank upgrades than them, change my mind.**

 **The MiG-19 is actually the MiG-29, with the previously seen J-6 of course being a Chinese copy.**

 **The MiG-17 meanwhile is basically the MiG-23 Flogger.**

 **The SAAB 32 is the Viggen here, the Mystere is the Mirage F1, the Hunter being the F-4 Phantom (Yes I understand the irony of the Hunter being represented by something comparatively bulky and ugly).**

 **The Sea Vixen F-11 is the Northrop NATF concept (which is pretty neat actually).**

 **The F-109 Foxhound is the F-15 Kai Eagle Plus from Paltabor 2, with further Silent Eagle type improvements.**

 **The F-84 Hayabusa is just the F-2 but with a diverterless supersonic inlet, and boasts its WWII namesake's very good power to weight ratio.**

 **The F-6 is a Japanized version of the F-18C Hornet.**

 **The F-7 Reppu is a Japanized version of the F-14E 'concept' that's floating around the web.**

 **Don't ask which one came first, they're basically a hi-lo mix.**

 **The B-4 Hiryuu is a slightly smaller 'Japanized' B-52.**

 **The Type-50 Inugami is the Hellhound attack helo from Patlabor.**

 **The Type-50 MBT is the Type 90 MBT.**

 **The F-12 Wasp is a modified F/A-181 Black Wasp II from the Arma III Jets DLC, albeit changed up so that any of the issues regarding its design being more form over how a real aircraft would work are resolved.**

 **Also it'd be a side-stick because apparently trying to use a center-stick in high-G maneuvers is really awkward.**

 **As for the Ace Combat characters? They'll factor in during the sequels, and AC is really the only series with enough pilots to drag along in any given fic.**

 **The Soviet Consul is a real person, whom served as the Soviet Ambassador to Japan during the same period IRL.**

 **The M-28 is a Britannianized version of the T-28 'super tank' modification for the T-28/T-95 seen in the toy soldiers: cold war, Evil Empire DLC campaign (Because it's awesome that's why, and an oversized testbed for integrating the tech from the Seventh Gen KMFs and other mechanized weapons onto a conventional armored platform fits anyways.)**

 **The M103 here is basically the standard Brit MBT but bigger and with two guns. Because two gunned tanks are cool and Britannia probably doesn't give half a fuck about 'muh military logic' given their copious use of fancy dress uniforms and impractically designed pilot suits during combat, to say nothing about the Knightmares.**

 **Fun fact, dawn on October 12, 1962, occurred at 5:19 AM local time approximately in the Tokyo Area.**

 **As for why more named Black Knights are shown being lost than Britannians.**

 **One, most of their forces, particularly their infantry, are random Japanese people who rose up with literally no combat training and barely a few hours experience in how to use _any_ weapon they're issued.**

 **Two, no supply chain at all, no real plan to deal with the Britannian reinforcements beyond hoping he gets lucky and they get distracted by outside elements, and the enemy command structure _hadn't_ fallen apart here.**

 **To be honest there was no chance of victory without outside aid even in the canon battle, as Lelouch's forces would be too exhausted and under-supplied to fight off an imminent counterattack backed by heavy naval fire support.**

 **So, of course the bulk are their forces are going to get absolutely shredded by the far better trained, supplied, and equipped Britannians. Even in the show proper both sides acknowledge that the only _real_ threat to Cornelia's forces are the actual Black Knights members.**


	27. Stage 27: The Black Rebellion

**AN: Edited last chapter to have the Repliforce trooper use military rather than civilian time.**

 **Also, recent global events and their (predictable) aftermath has left me kinda, burnt out on the terrorism and insurgency aspects of Code Geass and the Mega Man X series... And thus not that willing to work on the second arc of Code Reploid for a while, X1 is 100% complete, only two chapters after this need to be edited and posted.**

 **I'll probably try to make lighter hearted omakes based on supplementary material instead for the time being.**

* * *

 **"You think you can stop the bloodshed by shedding more blood?"-Larry "Solo Wing Pixy" Foulke, _Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War._**

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 rushed through the streets, Squad Seven in tow, the Reploids striding over numerous corpses wearing hastily made ID armbands and markings over civilian clothing and a mish-mash of protective equipment, most of it stolen or homemade.

"I warned Zero that these militia were little more than bullet sponges…" She grumbled as she suppressed a Britannian infantry position with a spray of buster fire while her team advanced advanced.

Vaguely she noted, with some worry, that the normally ever-present voice in the back of her mind, which typically only spoke whenever Lelouch was seriously grating on her, was silent.

She honestly didn't know what that meant, either she was going insane, or something more sinister, such as a Maverick Virus, was at work like she and Lelouch had discussed after Yokohama.

Shrugging it off, she turned her attention over to the corpses of the irregular fighters who'd attacked the position and failed to break through that laid strewn all across the road alongside several burnt out vehicles, including a burning export type T-34 tank, normally seen in breakaway states in Africa and Asia, bearing charred Black Knights markings, its dome shaped turret blown clean off due to an ammo detonation.

Rokusho deftly deflected a bullet with his sword, surprising the sniper that fired it, before cutting down an R1 that was standing in the middle of the street, likely awaiting orders due to damage or interference. "All the same, we need to give our forces the breakthrough they need to get out of this sector!"

C2 nodded as they pressed up an alley, the Reploid gesturing for her subordinates to halt as she peered around the corner and glanced up a major thoroughfare where a sizable roadblock, consisting of semi-trucks, bulldozers, a few M41 tanks, and two ride armors waited.

"Zero! We've got a roadblock on Nimitz avenue!"

["Very well then, I'll take care of it."] He promised, one punctuated by blasts from the Gawain's hadron cannons that promptly scythed down from above and blew it apart.

C2 waited as the survivors withdrew before radioing in. "The last of them are gone now, we have a clear ground route of approach to Ashford." She reported as she swapped to the Turbo Man data set and rocketed down the street.

["Good."]

* * *

Lelouch smirked as he looked over the sensors on the Gawain as it zoomed on Ashford. "The school area is a priority for the special forces, Squad Seven and the Zero squad to take over." He informed his subordinates. "We'll use one of the buildings as our field command center."

* * *

Kallen frowned pensively. "What… At the school…?"

["Ohgi, you stand by out there as well, I need you to ensure Shirley and the logistics team arrives there safely."] Zero instructed him. ["Ohgi!"]

* * *

Ohgi snapped out his thoughts, having been thinking about Chigusa's safety.

And the fact that she hadn't picked up the phone at all.

"Uh… Right! Understood Zero!" He finally acknowledged.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Shinjuku Ghetto, Area 11.**

The corpses of the three men who'd broken into Ohgi's house laid on the floor in pools of their own blood as Viletta Nu, now with her memories back, exited the building.

The phone Ohgi had given her lying amongst their bodies.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS Avalon, Pacific Ocean Airspace near Tokyo Settlement.**

Suzaku strode into the Avalon's hangar, his face set grimly.

"You're planning to take Lancelot so you can go to the Tokyo Settlement and fight, aren't you?" Lloyd asked as he strode out from behind the Lancelot's left leg, a worried Cecile standing in front of the Knightmare.

Lloyd grinned smarmily as he dangled the activation key out where Suzaku could see it. "However, you can't it!" Lloyd remarked. "The ASEEC exists for research and development. So it appears our duties here have wound to an end." He said as he clenched the key in his hand and gestured off to the side. "And we haven't been ordered in by the Viceroy or the Executrix either."

"Leaving would be a violation of orders wouldn't it?" He asked as Suzaku stepped forwards, a snarl on his face as he approached Lloyd.

"Suzaku, listen, I know how you feel but…" Cecile began to try and talk him down.

Lloyd grinned at him as he moved the activation key just out of reach. "Oh no you don't!" He said just as Suzaku grabbed him by the arm, spun him around, and punched him right in the jaw while he ripped the Lancelot's key from Lloyd's hands, knocking his glasses off and sending Lloyd to the ground.

Cecile gasped in shock and covered her mouth with her hands, having never seen Suzaku this furious before, or this willing to _harm_ anyone.

"Now, you listen to me Lloyd! Zero's in Tokyo and I'm going to finish him with my own hands to avenge Euphemia's name!" Suzaku stated, now eerily calm compared to his prior anger. "I sure as hell won't let someone like you stop me!" He declared as he put Euphie's pin on his pilot suit. "I'm doing this!"

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Gunfire raged through the streets as the frontline slowly shifted.

And in this chaos Guilford's Lionel and Todoh's Gekka Custom continued their duel. Both swordsmen clashing again and again as they danced in a way only they could understand, pouring their strength and skill into the battle.

And then a volley of gunfire caused Guilford to withdraw.

["Colonel!"] Asahina shouted as he and Senba rolled up.

["Lieutenant Colonel, should we pursue?"] Senba asked as a force of Major Nishizumi's tanks rumbled past in the distance.

["Where are the other units?"] Todoh asked as his Gekka turned to look at Senba's.

["They're approaching, climbing up from the side."] Senba reported before he noticed two incoming rockets. ["Hmm?"] He murmured as the three evaded the unguided rounds.

* * *

Guilford's eyes widened as he spotted the five distinctly colored Lionels hidden in the shadows of a ruined building above him, Sattle-Waffe launchers astride their cockpit pods.

"The Glaston Knights!"

["Lord Guilford, we're holding at a position just ahead of here! Please head back!"] Bart L. Darlton reported.

"I appreciate that, I'm in your debt."

["Think nothing of it sir."] Claudio S. Darlton replied. ["Originally we were all subordinates under General Darlton's command, orphans who joined the military before he adopted us into his family. We still don't know if he's alive or dead… But… Our duty to Viceroy Cornelia comes first."] He said.

"Do you know the situation?" Guilford asked.

["The enemy's frontal assault is a diversion… But if we beat them here, then most of the rest are just hastily organized militia forces and rioters."] There was a brief pause before he continued as he placed the signature mask of the Glaston Knights on his face. ["By that I mean, they're just worthless rabble."]

* * *

Lelouch frowned as he found himself unable to strike the enemy air units while his own forces were engaged.

Sighing, he commed the G-1. "Diethard, enemy air power is occupied, put Kaguya in command of the G-1's sector and move to your assigned location immediately." He ordered.

It irked Lelouch that Clovis had named two G-1s after himself and Nunnally respectively.

["Understood."]

"Yoshida, get the Raikou battery ready."

["Yes sir!"]

"Tamaki, do you know Rakshata's status?" He inquired.

["She and Shirley are on the move."] Tamaki reported.

"Kallen, C2, go provide their groups with backup." Lelouch ordered, knowing that C2's cover was as good as gone by now.

["Right! Wait what!?"]

["Roger."] C2 acknowledged, finally glad to not be called by a codename anymore.

He ignored her. "Todoh, you know what to do if you see the target."

["Understood."]

"Where's Izumi's force?"

["Almost totally wiped out by some Brit super tank near O'Hare field with a Hadron Cannon, some kind of laser weaponry, and that Blaze Luminous shield the Lancelot uses according to the survivors."] Inoue reported grimly.

He rubbed his temples, Izumi may not have been as important as the others in the command structure, but losing a whole battery of Raikous and their support forces just to find out O'Hare wouldn't crack easily was not a trade he wanted to make.

"What about the bombers?"

["Uhhh... They apparently the formation leaders misread their maps and went straight towards the Britannian fleet at low level, we lost pretty much all of that group and the rest ended up breaking off their runs and dumped their loads after getting engaged by a token force of enemy fighters after most of their escorts went chasing after an elite enemy fighter squadron like idiots."] Minami mumbled nervously.

The sheer _stupidity_ of that astounded Lelouch, he _needed_ those bombers to soften up the Bureau's defenses before Todoh moved in, now he was down a major source of firepower and the surviving aircraft might not be able to land and rearm before the Britannians regained control of the skies, forcing him to earmark the Gawain for that role instead. "Well that's just _brilliant_... Does anyone have any _good_ news to report?"

["We knocked out another VTOL strike package heading towards the G-1, so far enemy forces have taken the hint and backed off."] Sugiyama reported hesitantly.

"Well that's something... Now… What's the name of the collaborator Ohgi?" Lelouch asked, taking his hand off his head.

["Uh… I have it as Sayoko Shinozaki."]

Lelouch gasped in shock, having not figured it would be her of all people.

He wondered briefly why nobody had told him.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Imperial Palace, Pendragon, Britannian Homeland.**

"Contact's been lost with the Hiroshima Settlement!"

"Uprisings have broken out in the Sapporo Settlement as well!" Another official noted.

"Chinese Federation Naval Fleets are massing in the East China Sea, possibly in preparation of another go at Kyushu, and the Soviet Pacific Fleet has put out to sea as well, backed by their Northern Reaches Armada!"

"The Soviets and the Chinese as well?!" Odysseus groaned. "That's all we need with his majesty not present…"

 _"He must be_ there _again."_ Schneizel thought.

One of the officials stood up. "Lord Odysseus! Our troops are ready for deployment, you must choose a commander now!" He implored the First Prince.

"We mustn't be too hasty here gentlemen…" He cautioned warily. "What Euphemia did was clearly an abominable blunder. Handle it rashly and uprisings might spread to every area!"

"My lord! We must send someone to help Princess Cornelia, if we sit here and do nothing then the result will be the same!"

Schneizel stood up. "Brother, why don't I go?" He suggested. "Send me there."

"Y… You're serious!? You'd really go there!?" The First Prince asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Doesn't it sadden you to see those people killing eachother?" Schneizel asked him. "Besides, Liath has already long hijacked the Area 12 and Area 9 forces to aid her." He informed Odysseus.

Odysseus sighed. "Very well then brother... You have my consent as First Prince of the Empire to aid Area 11."

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Yoshida's Raikou charged up its primary cannon, waiting for the firing command.

"Fire the Raijin Cannon!" Yoshida barked.

The immense linear gun fired, blowing the way clear for the others.

["First special forces! Move in!"] Minami ordered, a wave of Burais, including specialized units, surging past him.

One by one, they began to ascend to the upper levels using their slash harkens, waves of missile and air strikes having blown holes in the settlement surface to allow them to bypass the primary defense lines by heading under them.

The Gurens of Zero squad fired their harkens and joined them in the ascent.

* * *

"They seem to only be focusing on defending the airbase and government bureau right now." Nemo reported to Lelouch. "Although, the secondary force we sent to Yokosuka and Yokohama reports they are unable to continue battle due to attrition suffered from naval gunfire and are regrouping with our main forces."

"As expected, they're trying not to scatter themselves while waiting for reinforcements." He observed, frowning at the mention that the Yokosuka and Yokohama assaults had turned into a rout.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Hi-TV Tokyo Settlement Offices, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Don't move!' Sugiyama ordered as he and a full geared up squad entered the last studio to be cleared. "We're the Black Knights! We've taken full control of this building, so do exactly as we tell you to and nobody gets hurt!"

"No! It can't be!" One of the production staff gasped as he and the Hi-TV station chief were held at gunpoint by Diethard and two Black Knights.

"Hello chief, I've brought you an exclusive." Diethard stated smugly as he stepped forwards. "Shall we transmit this to the world? The moment when Zero changes everything in our lives?" He asked. "Now that's a scoop."

"R… Right…" The station chief stuttered.

"We'll give the public a spectacular show that'll exceed whatever they hoped to see!"

* * *

 **October 11, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Rivalz gasped as the live newsfeed the Council was watching cut out suddenly, the anchorwoman getting up and saying something to someone offscreen just as it died.

"That was it… The last broadcasting station…" Milly mumbled nervously. "They're all down…"

The door slid open, Tamaki and three fully geared Black Knights entering with assault rifles drawn.

"Hands up and turn around!" He ordered with a bit too much smugness than was necessary for the situation. "The Black Knights control the school! All of you are now our hostages!"

Rivalz immediately placed himself between them and the council, which currently consisted of Nunnally, Sophie, and Milly due to the absence of the rest.

"Lower your guns!" He demanded shakily.

Tamaki raised an eyebrow behind his goggles. "That's a hell of a thing to say in this situation."

Arthur hissed angrily at Tamaki with his back arched, liking him even _less_ than Suzaku.

"Rivalz!" Milly hissed at him.

"C'mon let me be cool for once okay!?" He whispered back before looking at Tamaki. "I'll protect everyone!"

Tamaki sneered at him. "Is that a fact!?" He shouted as he raised the stock of his rifle.

And then there was a grunt as Tamaki was stopped by someone.

Rivalz opened his eyes to see C2 had grabbed the upper reciever of Tamaki's rifle, fixing him with an empty stare from behind her visor and battle mask.

Sweat ran down Tamaki's brow, the man would genuinely have been less nervous if she was visibly _angry_.

="What's going on here!?"= Zero demanded as he strode in the other door with a disguised Kallen and Shirley flanking him, both wearing Black Knights service uniform garrison caps and violet-hued visors like the support troops.

C2 released Tamaki's gun as he and the others turned to face the masked man. ="I expressly told you to avoid violence."= Zero reminded him.

"Yeah, but you also told us this was gonna be our command center, didn't you?"

Milly, Rivalz, and Sophie immediately turned back to Tamaki. "Your command center!?" Milly gasped.

 _"Why does it have to be Ashford. Of all places…"_ Kallen thought, knowing Shirley and C2, whom she hadn't initially believed was Q2 until the latter recited to the redhead a total transaction of her middle school grades, which could only be accessed by those with administrative positions in the school such as members of the student council or those working for them, were probably feeling the same way as herself about this.

="Your academy is strategically useful for our purposes, hence why we're making it our command center."= Zero explained to them.

"Well we're in no position to refuse you…" Milly admitted freely.

="I give you my word that none of you will be harmed."= He promised. _"Nunnally, until the fighting stops… You'll be safe right here… Protected by the Black Knights… So please…"_

"Like we can believe you!" Rivalz snapped as he strode forwards, actually leaving Lelouch at a brief loss for words due to the amount of guns aimed at him. "You guys are at war with us Britannians! We're your enemies, remember!?"

"Please Rivalz… Don't argue…" Kallen sighed as she walked forwards and removed her visor. "Do what he says…"

The council, including Nunnally, gasped.

"Kallen…" Sophie whispered.

Shirley removed her visor as well. "It's for your own safety…" She added.

"S… Shirley!?" Milly breathed in absolute disbelief.

C2 walked over to Rivalz and put a hand on his shoulder. "Listen… If anyone lays a hand on any of you, come to me about it." C2 she whispered before taking his records key off him and striding over to one of the shelves, unlocking it and promptly retrieving several files of records, tossing them to Zero.

It was at that moment, the mechanical and practiced way with which she retrieved them, that the council realized her true identity.

"No way…" Rivalz reeled back away from the Reploid and leaned against the bookcase. "Why are all of you…"

"Because… Britannia took something away from each of us… My past and memories, Kallen's family, Shirley's dad…" She explained softly.

She left it at that, Milly finally speaking after a brief pause.

"Well well… There's a surprise around every corner…" She muttered, confused and hurt by these revelations. "Do I have your word that no one gets hurt? Not just us, but any of the student body, faculty, or staff on the campus?!" Milly demanded.

"So long as nobody tries to leave the dorms or administrative offices, they should be fine." Kallen assured her.

There was a pregnant pause before Ohgi entered the room, bearing urgent news. "Zero! It's the Lancelot!"

="I knew he'd come!"=

"Suzaku…" Shirley whispered sadly.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The Lancelot dove out of the sky, having already scythed its way through several hapless Black Knights VTOLs and at least one fighter that had attempted to stop it.

A trio of Burais and a Panzer-Hummel fired into the air, hoping to destroy the Seventh Gen KMF

It was a fools hope.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" Suzaku screamed as he swept them aside like leaves in the wind, wiping them out to a man.

Yoshida's Raikou attempted to fire its linear cannon at him, only for Suzaku to slice the round in half and tear through its legs and power supply without stopping before moving to the next machine.

In a matter of _seconds_ all four Raikou units had been destroyed, the last Burai defending them, which continued shooting futilely at the Lancelot, joining them as he sliced it apart and continued onwards without another glance.

"When I find you Zero, I'm going to **kill** you!" He shouted, his long bottled up rage driving him onwards

* * *

Unnoticed by him, Viletta made her way through the wreckage, moving towards Ashford as well.

* * *

As the Lancelot leapt up onto a highway overpass, he deflected the Guren Mark Two's fork knife as the other KMF stared him down from the side of a skyscraper.

["Suzaku!"] Kallen shouted angrily.

"Kallen!?" He snapped at her.

["We meet in battle once again! I'm sorry, but this time you're going to die!"] She proclaimed, having met him alone due to her reluctance to send her squad to die in battle against Suzaku.

And a healthy dose of pride as well.

 ** _="The Black Knights will never believe you without proof, Zero has them wrapped around his fingers even_ without _his Geass. Speaking to them is a waste of time."=_**

Suzaku clenched his fists around the Lancelot's controls as he remembered Liath's words. "FINE THEN! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY ANYWAYS! YOU FOOLS, THE JAPANESE, ARE NOTHING BUT ZERO'S PAWNS!" He snarled at her.

["You're right about one thing! We'd never listen to your ignorant drivel decrying Zero!"] She responded. ["And like you'd know anything about Zero anyways!"]

"WELL THEN TELL ME WHAT _YOU_ KNOW!" He screamed at her.

* * *

["TELL ME WHERE ZERO IS **NOW**!"] Suzaku demanded as he used the Lancelot's Slash harkens to pull himself up to the building, Kallen barely blocking his strike with the wave surger.

The Lancelot took to the skies again, Kallen using the terrain and her slash harken to meet him in mid-air, blocking another strike from his MVS with the surger.

Jumping into another building, she barely evaded Suzaku's furious strike and headed directly downwards.

["COME ON, ANSWER ME!"] He demanded. ["WHERE'S ZERO!?"]

"Like I'd tell that to a filthy traitor like you!" She snarled back.

["YOU'RE IMPLYING I WAS LOYAL TO ZERO IN THE FIRST PLACE!"] Suzaku retorted. ["LET'S FINISH THIS HERE!"] He yelled as the Lancelot dove down at her.

"DON'T THINK YOU HAVE AN EDGE JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN FLY!" Kallen said as she fired the wave surger directly into the building and sent herself flying off.

Landing, Suzaku swiped at Kallen as she approached only for her to duck under the attack and grab the Lancelot's left arm with the Guren's wave surger arm. "Now I've gotcha! DIE!" She shouted as she fired the surger again at max output.

Suzaku, reacting quickly, ejected the arm, brought up his weapon, and fired the VARIS into the Guren's wave surger, totally destroying it.

Kallen, shaken and battered opened her eyes to find the Lancelot looming over her in mid-air, VARIS aimed dead to rights on her.

["TELL ME! WHERE! IS! ZERO!"]

"You know… I really hate pushy guys…" She groaned.

["Okay… Then die here…"] Suzaku stated as the VARIS switched to sphere mode for the kill-shot, a chill running down Kallen's spine as she realized he was dead serious this time. ["If you have any last words… Say them now."]

["Wait."]

Both Knightmares turned their heads to see the Gawain hovering nearby, slowly descending from above. ["Suzaku Kururugi, my belief that you and I could be allies was incorrect."] Zero stated. ["I am no longer gullible about our would-be partnership. Let's resolve this one-on-one."]

["Works for me! Let's do it!"] Suzaku replied to him.

* * *

Todoh and Asahina surveyed the area before them.

["Colonel?"] Asahina inquired.

["Asahina, what's Urabe's status?"]

["He's moving on the energy filler repository right now sir!"]

["Alright, let's go rendezvous with Senba and Chiba. Once we recharge, we'll surround the government bureau and rain artillery fire down onto it. Then we, as the main force, will push in from the front!"]

["Roger!"]

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Order Lord Crane to fall back." Cornelia stated to her staff officers. "Have him set up a defense line at the railway station grounds."

"Yes your highness! Right away!" One of them said as he marched off.

["Princess Cornelia! We've completed our formation!"] Guilford reported. ["Should we form a line of defense around the bureau?"]

"You're to hold your position Guilford, if we can draw this battle out, it'll only go badly for the Black Knights." She noted, having gone for a delaying tactic whenever possible as their enemies had limited supplies and no immediate reinforcements.

["Yes, Your Highness!"] Guilford acknowledged as he cut the video call.

She turned to the Glaston Knights. "Well, what did my older brother say?"

"He said that the Pacific Fleet will be arriving from Pearl Harbor in approximately 75 hours, the Area 12 and 9 forces sooner than that, with Repliforce being our primary relief group in the short term." Bart stated.

"Also, the Sado and Tori Island air divisions have already deployed within Area 11." Alfred added.

"Meaning that they should be here in about thirty minutes…" Cornelia mused. "Leak this information to the Black Knights." She ordered, knowing it would cause them to force their timetables.

And thus, get sloppy.

"After that, you'll join Lord Guilford in the defense line protecting the government bureau."

"And you, my lady?" Bart inquired.

"Oh, I'll be preparing the party." She said with a predatory grin.

The doors slammed open, Cornelia smirking as she saw who it was.

"Welcome back… Colonel."

The tall Reploid smirked. "I may not be battle capable, but my analytical and command skills are undiminished Your Highness."

"Good, I'll need them, come with me." She said as she walked out, the tall Reploid following after her.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Code R facility, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"ZEEROOOO!" Kewell screamed as he clutched his head, the R1s keeping their weapons aimed at him.

"Can't you calm him down!?" Bartley demanded.

"I can't! His resistance is too strong!" One of the researchers shouted.

"We're mounting the radiator pins!"

"Hurry!"

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **O'hare Field, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Darlton's Gloucester was dropped off into Liath's staging area at the airfield, where it was promptly surrounded by Liath's troops.

"Open it up and drag him out so we can secure him." A sergeant ordered as a white and blue 501st Lionel pried open the cockpit pod.

Only to find the tied-up pilot of the T-4 inside.

["What the!?"]

"Quick! Shoot the transport down!" One of the 501st Officers shouted as the automated M51 Skysweeper guns swiveled to face the transport as it flew off, salvos of radar guided flak shells exploding around it as the T-4 screamed away, only to take a burst from an M249 Vigilante's 37mm rotary cannon and fall out of the sky.

* * *

Inside, Darlton groaned as he managed to hard-land the machine near an abandoned Gloucester unit that had been knocked off its transport trailer by an airstrike.

* * *

 **Ashford Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"T-4s heading for the government bureau? Have the enemy's reserve air divisions arrived yet?" Ohgi asked nervously.

"No, it appears to be one unit, it looks like it was shot down by the Britannians near O'Hare field." A Black Knight reported.

Ohgi frowned, noting that the 501st had made no movements in the entire battle, just sitting at the airfield to defend it and absolutely slaughtering any attempt made to attack it with their garrisoned troops and the Morgan le Fay. "Well it shouldn't affect too many of us then. We're holding the school, and Diethard's holding the Media area. While Miss Kaguya's forces are standing by at our rear. All we need to do is push in on them from behind and we've won."

He paused briefly. "We have to for Yoshida and all the others who've died."

"Deputy commander! We've captured someone!" A guard reported.

"Is it one of the students? If so, let him go and send him back to the dorms, we have no reason to hold them."

"No! This one was caught sneaking in through the rear gate!"

He turned around to see Chigusa being held by some of the guards.

He froze, the look on her face was clearly not Chigusa's.

And yet… He needed to clarify it.

"Sh… She's a collaborator who reports directly to me." He said in a panic. "Take her into one of the unoccupied rooms, and I'll hear her report there."

A risky move, given that C2 wasn't present to handle it like Zero had instructed him.

* * *

"Poor Nina…" Milly mumbled as she and the other members of the council who weren't Black Knights waited in the meeting room. "I wonder if she's still in the Ganymede hangar…"

"And Kallen, Shirley, and C2 are part of the whole thing…?" Rivalz grumbled. "Man this sucks… What're we gonna do…?"

"It'll be alright… If Shirley is willingly with them… Then that means the Black Knights… Or Zero rather… Doesn't want to do anything that would harm us…" Sophie mumbled.

"How can you be so sure of that?" Rivalz asked.

"Why would Shirley join forces with the people who killed her father then…?" Sophie asked him.

[" **COWARD!** "] Suzaku screamed furiously before Rivalz could reply.

They stared out the window as the Gawain hovered there, aiming it Slash Harkens at the window.

["You've taken them as your hostages!? What a fucking brilliant hypocrite you are! Fighting for the weak my _ass_!"] Suzaku snarled at him. ["All you are is an anarchist leading a group of frothing rioters!"]

* * *

Lelouch winced, Suzaku was more… Eloquent, than he'd figured him to be. He presumed Liath was behind that, the damnnable witch. "You've brought this upon yourself when you rejected my bids to join me as my ally."

["At first I thought you were just someone lashing out at Britannia because they wronged you, but in reality you're a monster! NO! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A _MAVERICK_!"] Suzaku sneered, interrupting him.

Those words stung more than Lelouch thought they would. "And you're a fool who clings to unrealistic moral standards!" Lelouch snapped back at him as he checked to see if Sayoko was in position.

It was rather a good thing Suzaku _didn't_ know Zero's identity, otherwise he'd have called the bluff immediately and swooped in for the kill.

And despite the specs, C2 had made it clear from her analysis that Gawain was only useful at mid-long range, against even a _Glasgow_ with a half-competent pilot at close range it was dead if they couldn't anticipate the faster Knightmare's movements.

He thus had no doubt a Round level pilot in the _Ganymede_ could defeat him if the power lines weren't cut.

* * *

"Hey! Isn't that that Black Knightmare Zero showed up to the SAZ inauguration in!?" Rivalz asked nervously.

"No way!? Zero's not targeting this building… Is he?!" Sophie gasped. "His own troops are in here!"

* * *

" _If I can get close enough to him to use the harkens or the other MVS…"_ Suzaku thought, despite that he had a gut feeling those Gefjun disturbers Lloyd had mentioned were in the area, the thermal readings from Lancelot's factspheres had indicated that the council's clubhouse was his HQ, so either Zero was willing to murder his own troops as well if the harkens overpenetrated.

Or it was an elaborate bluff.

Suzaku narrowed his eyes before making his choice of action.

"NICE TRY ZERO! BUT I'M CALLING YOUR BLUFF!" He shouted as he swung far to the left to get a shot with the VARIS.

* * *

"SHIT!" Nemo cursed as she tried to track the Lancelot, but it was hovering at about rooftop level, leaving Lelouch with no good angle of fire that wouldn't risk civilian or friendly casualties.

"DAMN YOU SUZAKU!" Lelouch snarled. "C2! Get him, now!"

["Roger!"]

* * *

C2 fired a salvo of fireballs at the Lancelot from her buster using the Fire Man dataset.

["Force him into the disturbers!"]

"Already doing that!" She snapped at Lelouch as another volley of fireballs caused Suzaku to back down into their radius.

* * *

"Now!" Nemo shouted.

* * *

Sayoko pressed the detonator, the Gefjun disturbers disabling Suzaku's Knightmare, which barely avoided toppling as it settled onto the ground.

["What the!?"]

* * *

Rakshata giggled as she and her staff watched from a nearby balcony.

"I anticipated that they wouldn't have adequate time to deploy a countermeasure for this, Zero, do remember your promise."

["Yes, you may do with the machine as you wish."]

* * *

"ZERO! YOU DECEIVE EVERYONE WHO'S EVER KNOWN YOU TO THE VERY END!" Suzaku raged.

["I don't have time to argue who's the bigger hypocrite, we can do so later when I visit your _cell_. Farewell Suzaku Kururugi."] Zero replied as the Gawain took off and roared towards the government bureau.

* * *

["C2, I need you to attack the Maverick Hunter HQ with Major Nishizumi's troops."] Lelouch ordered, causing her to freeze.

"What…? Can you say that again? Because I seriously thought I heard you ordering that we _attack_ a neutral zone with diplomatic immunity."

["It's a diversionary tactic, if Sigma decides to side with Britannia our forces will be obliterated faster than they'd know what hit them."] He stated, much to her chagrin.

"And if _this_ forces him to pick a side?" She asked, knowing that Suzaku's talk and the entire bluff had possibly rattled him more than he'd admit.

That and the fatigue of hours of constant fighting following the emotional trauma of what he'd accidentally ordered Euphie to do was likely wearing him down faster than anyone else thought, causing him to get sloppier and sloppier with his decision making.

" _Damnit Lelouch, you're only_ human _. We weren't even close to being ready for an attack…"_

["Just do it."]

"Fine, but if this blows up in our faces I'm bailing faster than you can blink." She huffed as she cut the channel and glanced over at Rokusho as he walked over.

"Are we actually doing this?" The other Reploid asked apprehensively.

"Yeah, better hope we don't get wiped out." She stated seriously as she walked off to a waiting tiltrotor that had just landed, casting a mournful glance back at the disabled Lancelot.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Government Bureau District, Area 11.**

Automated gun emplacements extended from the walls of the Palace and began firing down into the swath of Knightmares and Ride Armors advancing on the building, SAMs and AA guns forcing those aircraft that were still active to keep a wide berth while C-RAM turrets swatted incoming artillery and missiles from the sky.

From the Gawain, Lelouch smirked as he watched the carnage. "So, their defenses are quite strong, just as expected." He remarked.

"Should you be taking this so causally? Their first wave of reinforcements has just arrived." Nemo pointed out, zooming in on the mass of aircraft approaching in the distance.

"Yes, and we've recharged our reactors and capacitor cells from the grid haven't we?" He asked as he prepared to fire.

Then the long range targeting sensor went out, simultaneously with the Gawain tilting forwards from an impact.

"What the!?"

Nemo flicked through the damage control sensors and frowned. "We just got hit in the primary factsphere by a high energy round from afar, not a direct hit on it though so we'll be fine, still it'll take time before I can bring them back online."

A second impact disabled the left hadron cannon's firing controls temporarily.

"We're being sniped!" Lelouch snarled. "Bring up the Blaze Luminous!"

Nemo did as instructed, the third shot splashing harmlessly off the Gawain's energy shield.

* * *

Sancia frowned as she lowered her buster sniper. "Well, I did all I could…"

* * *

Watching the air formation scatter and pull back as the Gawain's presence was reported, Lelouch frowned. "Todoh, I'm going to move in on the government bureau from above."

["Hm? Isn't it risky to rely on the abilities of that machine at close range?"] The colonel inquired.

"I know that. I'm just going to create some confusion." He half-lied, his true purpose being to further interrogate Cornelia about what she knew of the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal of the guard from Aries Villa that fateful night.

Taking out the enemy commander was simply an added bonus.

He frowned as they alighted on the roof of the Bureau. "It appears to be…"

"Yes… The Aries Villa, likely a reproduction commissioned by Clovis to serve as his residence." Nemo noted.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow at her, as the Villa had been closed off from the public for security reasons.

"I assumed you were shown photographs?"

"By that individual yes."

* * *

 **O'Hare Field, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["Zero has just breached our defense line at the Bureau."] A Soldier reported to Liath as the _Gae Bulg_ cannon was brought to full operational status with a Gefjun disturber, the Executrix smiling as she watched the Scathatch's cockpit screens report full connection.

She smirked as she tossed her mask in her hands. "Keep an eye on the situation. If I need to make a move, I'll move."

* * *

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["Welcome, Zero."] Cornelia purred as her Bors emerged from the shadows, catching Lelouch and Nemo off-guard, both now more than nervous about their chances given their opponent was a Seventh Gen machine rather than the expected Gloucester. ["I figured you'd show up here as soon as you learned about the air raid."]

Grinning ferociously Cornelia readied to pounce. "Now… Join us for your welcome soiree! Care for a dance?!"

* * *

 **Lamperouge Residence, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Chigusa, why did you come here…?" Ohgi asked warily. "It's not safe, I'll have you taken to a secure area if you're feeling nervous." He asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "Everything we're doing here is for the sake of peace, if Zero frees Japan from Britannia, then everyone can finally live safely together without worry or fear of discrimination!"

She backed away and then moved behind him, grabbing his gun before he could react.

" _Oh shit. She's remembered hasn't she…"_ He realized. "So… You've gotten your memories back…" He whispered.

"No thanks to Zero! He used some kind of mind control power on me in Shinjuku and when I came to my Sutherland was gone." She snarled. "And then he made me fall In love… With an Eleven of all things!"

Ohgi's eyes widened. "That can't be right… When I found you at Yokohama you were covered in blood! Someone shot you and dumped you in the breakwater! The head trauma and blood loss is probably what caused your amnesia!" He tried to reason with her.

"LIAR!" She snarled as she pulled the trigger on his sidearm, sending him stumbling forwards as the round tore through his body. "Me, _willingly_ with an Eleven like you!? Don't make me laugh!" She huffed as she watched him fall forwards.

The black crane Nunnally had made just prior to the battle starting fell over as Ohgi hit the ground.

Glancing around warily, Viletta bolted before security could arrive.

* * *

Minami rushed up to the room minutes later. "So is it true?! Ohgi's been shot?" He asked nervously.

"Yes sir, the Medic's with him now. He should pull through but he's passed out and I don't think he'll be in any shape to command our forces for a few days at least due to the injury and blood loss."

Minami frowned. "Was it the woman who was with him who did it?"

"We can't tell for sure but all signs point to it being likely, we're combing the campus as we speak but C2 and a large number of our troops left for the assault on the Maverick Hunter HQ so we're shorthanded."

"Wait!" Minami said as the man began to walk off. "Don't tell _anyone_ else Ohgi's been shot except Zero or C2 if they call in, the news will only rattle people and make them jumpy. Just find the woman and bring her back here!"

"Y… Yes sir…" The Black Knight uttered as he rushed off.

* * *

"Oh! Now they've even got Suzaku!" Rivalz groaned in shock before turning as he noticed an increase in hurried footsteps.

"I wonder what's going on out there…" Milly whispered.

"Now's your chance… Please go!" Nunnally instructed them, much to their shock. "Suzaku needs your help! Go to him, please!" She pleaded to the other three. "And _we_ need _his_ help. He's the best hope we've got!"

Milly blinked but then nodded at her.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy Storehouse, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Two Black Knights swept through the basement turned hangar of Ashford Academy, passing the idle Prydwyn units as they searched for Viletta. "It's pitch black in here." One mumbled as they looked around.

"Yeah… Hey, wasn't there supposed to be a couple guys guarding this place, where are they?"

"I dunno, but they better be looking for the culprit"

"Hey, where's the light switch?"

"I dunno…"

At the sound of their voices the Ganymede stood up, a reddish canister attached to the front of the machine. Stunning both of them, the two turning and running off, the girl having a sadistic smirk on her face as she watched them flee.

She never saw the Pluton operatives that killed them once they were out of her line of sight.

* * *

 **Viceroy's Place, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["WILL BE AVENGED!"] Cornelia screamed as she lunged at the Gwain with her Bors's Maser Vibration Lance, dodging the Gawain's fist as she screamed out of the way of its pitifully slow Slash Harken strike, the Gawain turning sluggishly to track her.

"DAMNIT! Can't this junk heap move any faster!" Lelouch raged as Nemo strained against the machine's mechanical limits to try and track Cornelia, who was using the Bors's Seventh Gen Mobility to the fullest. "This isn't a Seventh Gen it's a fucking Second Gen with advanced tech!"

"What did you expect, it's a floating _command post_ , not a close combat weapon." Nemo snarked at him.

["What's wrong Zero!? Can't keep up in that overgrown excuse for a Knightmare?!"] Cornelia cackled as she slammed the lance into the back of the Gawain's legs like a bludgeon, nearly toppling it.

Before Nemo could rebalance the machine, Cornelia fired several rapid VARIS shots into the Gawain, seriously damaging the external armor and disabling the Hadron cannons' primary FCS.

"Fire control is gone!" Lelouch gasped in shock as alerts blared across the Gawain's screens.

"We need to get out of her range! Hurry!" Nemo snapped at him.

Lelouch growled as he activated the float system, the Gawain lifting off and clawing for altitude as Cornelia fired the Bors's waist mounted Slash harkens at him. ["You're just a **weakling** hiding behind fancy gimmicks and toys! You know nothing of _true_ skill!"] She declared as the custom Bors grappled with the Gwain, Cornelia grinning madly. ["I HAVE YOU!"] She cackled with manic glee as Lelouch recoiled in actual terror.

It didn't matter if he was blood, she'd still _slaughter_ him over what he'd done to Euphie. ["I have you! I have you right where I **want** you! YOUR LIFE IS NOW IN _MY_ HANDS!"] The Second Princess declared psychotically.

"CORNELIA!" Lelouch snarled impotently.

["THIS IS YOUR JUDGEMENT!"] She cackled just before a standard EM Lance plunged through the left side of her Bors unit's cockpit, barely missing her and causing her Bors to fall off the Black Knightmare and to the roof of the Bureau below.

Lelouch grinned as he exhaled in relief, his hands shaking on the Gawain's controls. "Well, he made it."

* * *

["Princess… It's me Darlton…"]

"Darlton… So… He did get to you…" She gasped.

["Don't be afraid… I'm not here to kill you my lady… Just to deliver you to Zero, your Highness…"] He stated as the Geass wore off, its command fulfilled.

* * *

As Cornelia's Bors slammed into the ground, Darlton's eyes widened in horror. "No! What have I done!" He gasped before a black and grey blur swept him aside just as the Gawain's hadron cannons fired, Lelouch having activated the backup FCS finally.

* * *

"WHAT?! WHO DARES!" Lelouch snarled, looking about for the culprit.

The smoke cleared, revealing Darlton's disabled Gloucester.

And the Scathach, aiming its own shoulder mounted artillery-type Hadron cannon square at the Gwain.

"LIATH! SO WE FINALLY MEET IN BATTLE!"

["Heh, I always knew you'd come for Cornelia when the time came."] A woman who could only be the Executrix chuckled as a voice only comm line opened up, lacking the usual voice modulation on her comms. ["Always were a stickler for finding out what happened to your _mother_ , weren't you _**Lelouch**_?"] She asked, causing him to freeze up.

"How…? Why…?" He gasped in shock as the Scathach positioned itself between the Gawain and the villa replica, Nemo looking at her console pensively.

["Let me bring _your_ search for the killer to an end. For the one who slew Empress Marianne and crippled your sister… _**WAS MYSELF!**_ "]

Lelouch's pupils shrunk to dots as he let his primal rage take over, here, the one that started of all this, who'd crippled Nunnally and murdered his mother, was standing there before him.

And he had an immensely powerful weapon at his disposal with which to smite her with.

" **RRAAAAAAGGGGHHH**!" He screamed as he impulsively fired the Gawain's hadron guns, the Scathach dodging the strike by leaping into the air as it set the replica Villa aflame. "DIE! **DIE!** _ **DIE!**_ " He demanded as he kept sweeping fire around at her, leaving a trail of destruction in the wake of his line of sight.

"LELOUCH! STOP! SHE'S RILING YOU UP SO THAT YOU'LL-" Nemo shouted as she glanced down at the thermal levels of the Gawain's hadron cannons, realizing that the cooling systems on the left side cannon had been rendered inoperable.

An explosion shook the Gawain as the damaged left hadron cannon overheated and partially detonated due to the stress of the continued firing, sending shrapnel tearing through the cockpit, Nemo shrieking in pain as a chunk of superheated metal tore across the back of her neck, cutting her spinal column and leaving Lelouch as the sole operator of the Gawain temporarily.

Lelouch, bringing a hand up to a stinging sensation on his face, found a fresh cut there as he glanced at the blood before realizing he'd heard a scream. "Nemo…? Nemo…? NEMO!?"

He looked down to see her hair and the back of Nemo's pilot suit slowly turn red as she laid limp against her console while the ringing in his ears faded, replaced by the blare of the Gawain's system alarms, which he promptly silenced. _"I did this… I let… My anger get the better of me and…"_ He thought as he sat there in utter silence.

The Scathach stood there, aiming the _Gae Bulg_ at him before it simply extended its wings and flew off. ["Before I go boy, there's one last thing I tell you… Your mother isn't the woman you thought she was. And some day you _will_ understand _why_ she died."] She said cryptically as she flew off.

Lelouch, his anger fading, finally realized how _similar_ her voice was to Nemo's and C2's as he sat there while the battle raged around him.

And he slumped back into his seat, emotionally drained by it all.

He'd been so _close_ , and now everything was slipping out of his reach. For all he knew Liath had been bluffing to rile him up. And he fell for the bait like an _idiot_.

And yet...

He glanced over at the wreckage of Cornelia's Bors unit.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Regional HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11**.

C2 glanced at Rokusho as the Black Knights formation advanced on the Maverick Hunter complex.

"All forces halt!" She barked, bringing the column to a standstill.

["With all due respect, what the hell are you doing!?"] Major Nishizumi inquired over the radio as C2 strode into the empty plaza between the HQ and the column.

"ATTENTION MAVERICK HUNTERS! THIS IS C2, ZERO'S PERSONAL GUARD AND COMMANDER OF SQUAD SEVEN! I HEREBY CHALLENGE X OF THE 17TH UNIT TO A ONE-ON-ONE DUEL!" She shouted, much to the shock of her troops. "THE LOSER AND THEIR ALLIES WILL BE SUBJECT TO THE WINNER'S TERMS!"

* * *

"Commander! With all due respect! We have them outgunned!" Vile pointed out as Sigma contemplated the offer.

 _"While rationally it makes sense to simply open fire, this method would have the added benefit of letting me test X further without personally playing my hand..."_ He thought as he rubbed his chin. _"He and that C2... Their kind of abilities are the future of our species..."_

He turned to face X. "What do you think?"

"I'll do it." X said as he clenched his fists and nodded at Sigma as Zero and Vile turned to him in shock.

Sigma nodded back before turning to address C2.

"WE ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE!" The commander of the 17th unit boomed loudly.

"Zero, give me a spare saber." X demanded, knowing that C2 was likely doing this to avoid unnecessary fighting.

Zero reluctantly handed him one as he trudged forwards to the plaza and stared C2 down.

* * *

"So… It's going to be like this then…?" X asked as C2 extended one of her drills.

"Yeah, if you go easy on me I'll kick your ass." She stated with a wry smirk on her face.

X grinned back. "Wouldn't even dream about it… But you do know that I'll have to kick yours for putting me in such an awkward position… Right?"

She shrugged. "Sorry, but my cover was dropped like… an hour ago. I would've sent a postcard but we've been busy." She joked.

And then the two launched themselves at eachother, X narrowly blocking her drill with his saber as they clashed.

Both Reploids leapt back and circled eachother before each snapped up their buster cannons and started spraying automatic fire at the other.

The shots impacted in mid-air or missed totally as they both slide dashed to the side and then swept forwards, melee weapons readied to strike.

* * *

Major Nishizumi frowned and ordered her tank column to advance, only to find Rokusho standing in her path.

"Out of the way!"

"Zero did not state _how_ our mission is to be accomplished. Only that we take the HQ." He informed her. "If the Maverick Hunters renege on the deal, we will combat them then."

She snarled but conceded, knowing that if Rokusho so wished, he could render her tanks impotent with a few sweeps of his blade.

"Very well then."

* * *

C2 and X clashed repeatedly, neither having a decisive edge due to the similarity of their specs and their respective lack of skill and willingness to go for the kill, drill meeting saber again and again before breaking off to fire a volley of shots between them.

To a bystander it was almost like an odd and beautiful courtship ritual, the movements of the two fighters almost perfectly in sync.

" _This is bad… We've probably spent so much time reviewing how eachother fought that even a week of training made no difference for me…"_ C2 realized slowly as she slammed her drill against X's saber, the blade finally dying as her drill bit shattered under the impact. _"And for all I know, X is still hesitating, even if he doesn't realize it. Hell,_ I'm _probably hesitating..."_

The two staggered away, aiming their busters at eachother and unloading with everything they had, throwing up a cloud of smoke and dust.

As it cleared, C2 took the initiative, rushing towards X and grappling with him in close quarters.

"Not… Using… Your powers…?!"

"If I defeat you with someone else's gimmicks, I'd never live it down." She said with a grin on her face as X headbutted her, shattering her visor and causing her to reel back before she landed an uppercut to his jaw.

As X stumbled, C2 retook the initiative and hammered her fist into him repeatedly, X slugging her back and snapping off one of her ear antenna while a second blow dented her chestplate.

Reaching up, she managed to rip one of his torso armor plates loose with a sudden jerk and promptly slammed it into his helmet, cracking the forehead camera.

What had once been an elegant dance had descended into an ugly barroom brawl as X kicked her away, C2 firing her back-mounted apogee motors to arrest her backwards movement, green micro-filament hair billowing out as it was displaced briefly.

"Hmph, at least you didn't go for the hair." She snarked as she snapped up her charged buster cannon.

"As a gentleman, I felt it would've been too far." X quipped back as he brought up his own fully charged cannon.

In unison, they fired, obscuring everything in azure light.

* * *

Forte growled as he watched the smoke clear and C2 and X returning to their fight after picking themselves up.

"Why even send all of us to deal with them if we're just cleanup!?" He fumed as he stomped around.

Mao gave him a look as she kept watch on the radio channels. "Oh, sure just attack them while a full Black Knights armored battalion and multiple Maverick Hunter detachments led by high ranked officers are within line of sight of us. They'll _totally_ just stand around and let us do that." She said dryly.

Forte moved to strike her but was stopped by Shadow Man. "She speaks the truth brother, we cannot afford to move rashly, were the area more… Isolated... Then we'd act, but rashness rarely leads to good results in a situation such as this." The Robot Master counseled as Forte sighed and sat down.

"Fine, but mark my words, when we go in, I'm not holding back." He remarked before Mao's face took on a predator's grin.

"I have our solution." She stated, causing them to turn and look at her.

"What kind of solution?" Lucretia asked, confused by Mao's smugness.

"I just got remote access to the block that Plaza is on."

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Repliforce R &D facility, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Iris marched through the halls of the Badb's evacuated development facility, following the map she'd downloaded towards the Giga Ride Armor.

Stopping at the final security door, she briefly considered entering the door's code before deciding that a weapons test was in order and standing aside.

[OBSTRUCTION DETECTED. COMPOSITION: REINFORCED STEEL AND TITANIUM ALLOY. ODDS OF MISSION HINDRANCE: ZERO PERCENT.]

The door melted into a pool of slag as the Badb's magnus hadron cannon blew through it, setting off the alarms as she hopped over the seeping puddle, a devilish smirk on her face as the ride armor opened up to allow her access to its command module.

"In the name of Euphemia li Britannia, I shall destroy my enemies..." She whispered as she plugged herself into it, her enhanced sub-programming already using up much of her processing power and with the Badb's own data flowing into her, now slowly overloading her systems. "Non Britannian IFFs detected... Annihilate."

The Badb raised it's left arm, charging up the Magnus Hadron Cannon again, this time to full power.

* * *

Outside the facility the advancing force of Black Knights troops moved up, hoping to take the seemingly abandoned building.

And then the center force of the unit was atomized as a brilliant violet-magenta beam scythed out of the building.

["Wa... What was that?!"] One of the survivors asked as his Gloucester aimed its weapon at the building.

In the shadows of the cooling gap, the Badb's monoeye flared.

["All. Hail. Britannia."] Iris's voice echoed softly over their comms.

["IT'S A BRIT MACHINE! OPEN FIRE!"] One of the Black Knights screamed as the Knightmares, ride armors, Mechaniloids, armored vehicles, infantry, and technicals unleashed their arsenals onto it. ["DIE YOU TIN-PLATED BASTARD!"]

The Blaze Luminous of the Badb held in the face of the barrage.

[INSURGENTS DETECTED ON BRITANNIAN SOIL. LETHAL FORCE ENGAGED.] The Badb's computer reported as Iris commanded it to open fire in reply, its wings spreading as brilliant blue-white lasers pulsed from their tips, sweeping across the formation and cutting it apart. [ALL HOSTILES NEUTRALIZED. TACTICAL ASSESSMENT: BLACK KNIGHTS VICTORY... IMPOSSIBLE.] The battle computer droned into Iris's mind as it hovered past the flaming remains of the Black Knights it had just eviscerated and powered up its engines and float system to take flight, heading to the next battlezone.

* * *

 **Maverick Hunter Regional HQ, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 and X stared eachother down, both heavily damaged.

"Heh, for a 'lover's spat' I think we went a little too far…" He chuckled earnestly as C2 glanced over at the bureau, clutching her abdomen after X fired a charged shot into it. "Why do this…?"

She shrugged. "Your side would've ripped us apart so thoroughly that any victory would've been pointless once the Britannians counterattacked. I've seen enough death for one week." C2 conceded as she looked back at him and got into a ready stance.

"I can live with losing then if that's the case like I thought it was." He admitted with a smile on his face as the two once again charged at eachother.

And then felt the ground collapse under them as the block they were standing on was purged, sending it falling to the level below.

* * *

Major Shihio Nishizumi's tank reversed as she and her column scrambled to get to safe ground as the block before them was purged, sending up an immense cloud of dust as buildings followed the terrain they'd been built atop.

The Major clutched at her chest, having nearly had a heart attack. "STATUS!"

["All units reporting green, we didn't lose anyone thankfully."] Someone replied.

"No, we did…" She whispered as she and Rokusho gazed at the gaping space where the plaza C2 and X had been fighting had once stood.

* * *

The Maverick Hunters stared in mute horror as they rushed up to the edge of the immense square crater where an entire section of the settlement had once been.

"X!" Zero shouted down into the pit, chiming his comms as well. "X! CAN YOU HEAR ME!? **X**!"

"Deploy search and rescue teams at once!" Sigma bellowed as a pair of troopers he was facing saluted and rushed off. "Signal a ceasefire with the Black Knights as well!"

"YES SIR!" A third trooper acknowledged before she too ran off to comply with his orders.

* * *

 **Ashford Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The door to the primary council room slid open, giving Nunnally a start.

Her wheelchair turned to let her face the door. "Hello? Who's there…? Is that you Nemo?" She asked.

"No, it's not." A young boy's voice replied as V.V. and a trio of Pluton operatives in full BDU and gear stood in the doorway.

"Hmm… But?"

He smirked. "Nunnally, I've come to take you with me." He stated as the Pluton operatives stepped forwards into the room, Nunnally's expression turning to one of panic as the soldiers marched towards her.

* * *

 **AN: Tin-Plated Bastard is actually the original Japanese version's slur against the Britannians, mostly due to their use of Knightmares, and was apparently commonly lost in translation.**

 **It's even more apt here with Britannia having made heavy use of Reploids and Mechaniloids during the invasion as well.**

 **I realized late in the editing phase that I'd made C2 and X's battle the polar opposite of Lelouch's confrontation with Suzaku at Kamine, the two are nothing if not polite to eachother, cracking jokes as they earnestly beat eachother to scrap.**

 **Unlike Suzaku and Lelouch, whom have little to say to eachother during their brief 'fight', as everything had already been said and done before they both pulled the trigger and then Suzaku decided to defy physics and human biology again.**

 **Also, on an added sidenote, I just thought of a good setup for an XCOM/CG crossover, with Suzaku and C.C. as the MCs. Basically the Aliens are using unwitting proxies to destabilize Britannia due to it being the dominant military superpower, and of course, the Black Knights are square in their sights as patsies for this purpose, they are of course treading carefully due to Lelouch's paranoia, slowly feeding him and his supporters new technology to shift the balance, with the goal of using his planned Rebellion against Britannia to establish bases in Area 11 under the cover of the mass chaos.**

 **Enter XCOM, which recruits Suzaku in the immediate aftermath of Narita via favors Schneizel owes their leadership in exchange for advanced technology deals that were utilized in the construction of the Lancelot (XCOM being run by a secretive cabal from the various global powers, dedicated to defending humanity from exterior threats), thus giving the anti-alien taskforce control of that specific ASEEC group.**

 **Naturally, the Aliens would view C.C. as a target of interest, and a scout vessel, unaware of her attachment to Lelouch, would attempt to abduct her during her meeting with Mao at Clovisland, diverting Police attention with a major riot and thus ruining Lelouch's plan to kill Mao by diverting the Police unit he'd hitched a ride with while he's en-route from Tokyo Tower.**

 **Mao's survival here would be entirely optional, as his Geass isn't anything the Sectoids and other psionic aliens aren't already capable of.**

 **Long story short, Suzaku and an XCOM team are inserted to deny the aliens their prize and succeed (Suzaku if he spots C.C. would recognize the immortal and confront her) and C.C. is left with three options, attempt to warn Lelouch about the greater threat (Given his mistrustfulness and the absurd statements she'd be making without evidence, this one is effectively dead on arrival), keep quiet about what occurred and thus bring greater suspicion upon herself from him, or work with XCOM to try and stop the Aliens from inside the Black Knights while the clock to the Black Rebellion ticks down ominously, hopefully getting Lelouch to realize that he and Britannia are merely being used as pawns in a game with far greater stakes than he'd ever considered in the process.**


	28. Stage 28: Checkmate

**AN: so some stuff I wrote in an earlier Author's Note about Cornelia knowing it was Lelouch was wrong.**

 **But at the time it'd been a year or so since I'd seen Ep 25 so eh, I claim faulty memory.**

 **Still, she should've suspected _something_ realistically, even **_**Suzaku**_ **figured out Lelouch was Zero and he's kind of... Dim, sometimes.**

 **Anyways, about time to wrap X1 up.**

* * *

 **"WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOR!?"-Zero, _Mega Man X4_.**

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Lelouch marched over to Cornelia, covering his Geass eye with his left hand and holding the Zero mask under his right arm.

"So… Darlton was right… When he said… Whoever Zero was had… A grudge against the… Imperial Family…" Cornelia gasped as she laid next to the wreckage of her Bors unit, the command type Lancelot model's debris strewn about. "I should've... Realized sooner... That... It really was... You..."

"You believed I survived?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes... The special ops teams... I sent... To rescue you... And Nunnally... Never found any sign... Of your remains..." His sister wheezed. "If anyone... Had a grudge... Against the crown... And the ability to... Act on it... It would be you..."

"How long did you suspect me of being Zero?" He inquired warily.

"You... Were always... On my list of... Possible suspects... I just... Didn't want... To believe it..." She admitted between breaths.

Lelouch grimaced as the Gawain knelt where he'd left it, waiting for Nemo to heal from her wounds.

"It was all… For… Nunnally… Wasn't it…?" Cornelia asked him.

"Correct." Lelouch replied, hoping to get more concrete answers from her than Liath, whom may have simply been manipulating him for her own ends. "I will _demolish_ this present world and rebuild it _anew_. A better, gentler one, where Nunnally can live happily." He proclaimed casually to his sister.

Cornelia scoffed weakly. "You killed them... All for the sake of… That madness… Clovis…? Euphie…? All for some… Pipe dream that'll… Last twenty years…?"

"You're one to talk dear sister, considering how you idolized my mother, Marianne the Flash."

Cornelia sat up with her remaining strength. "It would seem… That talking to you further… Would be utterly pointless…"

"Indeed." Lelouch agreed before removing his hand from his left eye. "Lelouch vi Britannia _orders_ you to answer him!"

"Go on." Cornelia said calmly as his Geass took control of her mind.

"Were you ordered to withdraw the guard that night?"

"Yes... The Empress would broker no argument, staff were removed from the premises if their duties were to take them anywhere near the entrance hall as well."

Lelouch frowned at that, at the very least he had confirmed Euphemia wasn't lying.

"Sister, is Liath the one killed my mother? And who is she and what reason would she have to kill her?" He inquired.

"I don't know." Cornelia replied. "I have no idea who Liath really is nor why she would have struck down the Empress."

 _"Figures."_

"Who would?" Lelouch inquired.

"The Emperor assuredly, possibly the Knight of One, and the Supreme Commander of Repliforce from what little I know."

Lelouch frowned, all three would be difficult to get answers out of, and General, being a _Knightmare-sized_ Reploid, would be nearly impossible to interrogate. "I see, is there anything else of note around her that isn't common knowledge?"

"Liath has an expressed interest in occult artifacts of the type that have been found in numerous areas around the Empire, including most recently on Kamine Island, there are also conspiracy theories that Liath actually _died_ in the assassination attempts where she ostensibly had doubles standing in for her, only to resurface later as if nothing had happened."

He raised an eyebrow at that, remembering one of his theories about Nemo's genetic donor that'd been based on Mao's statements. "Is there anything else you know?" He demanded.

There was no response from Cornelia. "I see… So that's all you're aware of on that end." He grumbled as the Gawain stood up and turned to face him. "What about the investigation?"

"The Emperor ordered Schneizel to take the body to an undisclosed location. That's all I know." She stated.

Lelouch felt a jolt of uncertainty in his mind. _"Wait, then_ what _or_ who _was in that coffin?!"_

["Hey get back in here!"] Nemo shouted over the Gawain's speakers as the Knightmare stood back up, catching his attention as his Geass command faded from Cornelia's mind.

"I know, the government bureau's defense forces will be arriving soon." He replied as he put his mask back on.

["No! It's not that! Your little sister has been abducted!"] She stated urgently.

="Nemo, don't joke around at a time like this!"= Lelouch sighed as he walked towards the Gawain's outstretched hand. "We'll bring Cornelia back to the command center with us as our hostage!"

["She's been taken! I just know because she's the sole reason you have to live!"] Nemo snapped back at him. ["She's on Kamine Island!"]

" _Kamine Island?"_ Lelouch narrowed his eyes, remembering the odd ruins there and the unusual event that had occurred during the Mexican standoff there.

Then the 'ground' shook as a _massive_ forest green and brown craft burst from the roof.

"ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!" Kewell shouted madly as the immense Arminius Giga Knightmare emerged from the roof of the Bureau building and loomed over Lelouch, Kewell visible in the open cockpit hatch on its dorsal surface. "Mister Zero!? Oh, can it really be!? What!? Oh, what luck! What fate!" Kewell ranted madly as the immense war machine loomed over Lelouch. "What evil, horrendous, fortune!"

="Is that you leaf boy!?"= Zero scoffed at him.

"Ooooohh! Oooooohhh! I _beseech_ you!" Kewell howled before his face turned predatory and a hint of stability slipped through his eyes as he clapped his hands together as if pleading like some pauper. "I'm begging you, please **die**."

* * *

That sent a chill down Lelouch's spine as he entered the Gawain's cockpit. ="Damn! Get Cornelia!"= He ordered Nemo.

"Already on it!" She replied, the Gawain reaching down for the Second Princess before the Arminius rammed it off the bureau tower.

* * *

"Zero!" Kewell hissed as he descended into the Arminius's cockpit. "I… Must rid the world of the Empire's enemies!" He uttered as he flexed his arms, arcane looking systems along the walls of the module glowing a brilliant green, in contrast to the orange sparkling of the cybernetics in his left eye.

"Yes, and so…" He whispered before shouting at the top of his lungs. " **ALL! HAIL! BRITANNIA!** "

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Code R Facility, Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Bartley stared down at the floor. "What a damn disgrace!" He fumed, noting that Madd had ditched them in the chaos. "If we informed the Prince about this…!" He muttered as he looked back up at the carnage caused by Kewell's rush to the Arminius, thankfully the only actual losses being the destroyed R1 units, the human personnel just being wounded.

"It's only his emotions running wild!" One of the researchers who was still conscious replied. "He's too hard to predict right now!"

"I wish we could communicate with him… Get through to him somehow…" Bartley muttered as someone chuckled dryly from behind him.

 **="No matter _who_ it is, the result is always the same it seems."= **Liath stated as she stepped into the light, flanked by eight of her soldiers, their black visors impassive as they held their rifles at ready. **="Nonetheless, he'll keep Zero out of our hair for the time being."=** She noted as she made a gesture with her hand, another dozen 501st Soldiers, this time wearing Imperial Guard Assault Armor, striding over to the still conscious personnel and forcing them to their knees in a line next to the General, the rank and file soldiers having their helmets removed and made to look straight towards Liath.

A number of medics tended to those who'd been knocked unconscious in their place

"E… Executrix Liath!? What is the meaning of this!?" Bartley gasped in horror as her mask stared straight at him, the portly General _feeling_ her glare on him.

There was a hiss as she reached up to the mask and detached it from her helmet, the voice changer shutting off in the process. "Oh please dear Bartley, we're 'friends' aren't we?" She asked sarcastically as she pulled the faceplate down, revealing a pair of golden eyes, which _both_ promptly glowed red with the power of Geass on command.

"After all, I represent the Empire, and you all _love_ Britannia don't you? So by doing everything I say, you're serving Britannia." She told him.

In that one moment, Bartley's memories flooded back.

Memories of a different time, and a **very** _different_ Code R.

"I… It can't be!" He gasped in horror before his voice was lost, subsumed by the Geass of Absolute Devotion.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Get out of the way!" Lelouch growled at Kewell.

["ZEROOO!"]

* * *

C2's clawed herself out of the debris, her right arm hanging uselessly at her side, artificial muscle cables, wires, and coolant lines distending from the tear in her left bicep's plating as lubricants and coolant leaked down over her plating from her various rends like rust colored blood.

She gazed about the artifical box canyon formed by the devastated block, shellshocked by the aftermath of its sudden purge. "X…? X? **X**!?" She shouted, only to get no response as she stumbled about, clutching at her damaged arm.

After a minute of aimless shambling her foot hit something.

She looked down and spotted X's severed left arm lying in the rubble and stooped down to pick it up, tears dropping onto it before she fell onto her knees and sobbed before she howled in anguish.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **, En-route to Tokyo Settlement, Pacific Ocean.**

["Currently passing through the Ozuite area."]

"Why did you try to stop Suzaku?" Cecile inquired as she slipped into her pilot suit.

"I'm a military contractor." Lloyd stated simply.

"You didn't want him killed, did you?"

Lloyd huffed derisively. "Why should I care? You know as well as I do."

Cecile turned to face him.

"The biggest human flaw is that is that we're so pitifully fragile, in our bodies, our hearts, and our relationships with eachother. A flaw many of our creations share with us..." He mumbled as he sat there while a now dressed Cecile walked over to him.

She clipped her incom headset on. "Nevertheless, you can't bend the world or people any which way you want, at some point, something has to give. And it's rarely pretty."

Lloyd sighed. "I want every part of my mechanisms to function _exactly_ as I wish, otherwise… If we lose Kururugi, we'll just have to find another Devicer…"

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Rakshata frowned as she watched a Burai with a ranged cutter approach the Lancelot and turn on the welding torch, flanked by her subordinates, Shirley, and Tamaki.

"Be careful!" Rakshata chided. "Any Knightmare that enters the field will shut down _immediately_."

She was already annoyed that Asplund's toy had cost her the Guren's last working production type wave surger arm, and she didn't need any further screwups.

["Understood."] The Burai pilot stated as the end of the cutting flare reached the Lancelot's cockpit.

* * *

Inside the war machine, Suzaku noticed the temperature spike and grimaced.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Nemo fired the right hadron cannon, forcing Kewell to back off.

"He's very good…" Nemo admitted begrudgingly. "Better than the last time you faced him for sure."

Lelouch frowned and dialed up Ohgi. "Ohgi, it's Zero."

["Zero! Thank god!"] Minami gasped in relief as he answered, confusing Lelouch.

"Hm, what?! Minami, where's Ohgi?"

["Someone shot him! We're treating him but he's unconscious! And the culprit who shot him is still-"]

" _Viletta! The damned idiot must've met her alone after she re-acquired her memories…! If only I hadn't sent C2 off..."_ Lelouch realized. "Alright, you'll do. The girl in the wheelchair, do you where she is right now?"

["Uh… isn't Ohgi more important?"]

"I'll arrange for a short-term replacement later! The girl in the wheelchair comes first!" Lelouch snapped at him, growing tired of what he viewed as trivial issues at the moment.

["His replacement…?"] Minami repeated, confused.

"Confirm her location!" He barked at Minami.

["All of the student leadership we had confined alone disappeared. In the confusion when Ohgi was shot-"] Minami began before Lelouch hung up on him, fuming.

"Is it wise to leave the issue about Ohgi unattended at such a critical juncture?" Nemo asked him as he dialed Rivalz up impatiently.

"Quiet witch!" He snapped at her as Rivalz picked up.

["Lelouch! This is a bad time."] Rivalz whispered.

"Is Nunnally with you?" He asked.

["She should be in the clubhouse, we're just a short distance away."]

Lelouch frowned. "Understood." He said as he hung up on his friend while Nemo danced the Gawain around the Arminius's slash harkens, Lelouch failing to get through to C2, Nunnally, or Sayoko with his further calls.

"Damn, I can't get through to Nunnally, C2, or even Sayoko!" He growled.

"Major Nishizumi reported that C2 challenged X to an honor duel." Nemo informed him.

His hackles rose briefly in irritation. "Of course, just like her to disobey my orders."

"The unit you sent would've been slaughtered by the Hunters if they forced them to fight back, it was a prudent choice. And she actually had him dead to rights, before a third party, possibly Britannian irregular troops, demolished the block she was on." Nemo said as she brought up the images on his screen. "Should we try to search for her? She is one of your most-"

"That's not important right now! Shaking leaf boy and finding Nunnally are our top priorities!" Lelouch snarled at Nemo, growing ever more irritated with what he viewed as distractions, too focused on Nunnally to see the big picture.

That the tide of battle was swinging in favor of Britannia.

She frowned before conceding that she wouldn't get logic and reason through to him any time soon. "Very well then Lelouch, you know, I'm here as _your_ accomplice. But also as your _ally_."

"So I should just _trust_ you? Take the word of a woman who hasn't given me any reasons to trust her?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"What else do you have to work from?" She pointed out. "Look, I don't want you to die, at least _that's_ true."

"Hmph, a one-sided convenience!" He retorted angrily as he pinged the closest unit. "Third squad! Enemy aircraft! Sync fire and shoot it down!"

["Roger!"] Kagezaki replied as his team of Burais locked their missiles onto the Arminius. ["Tracking enemy! Fire!"] He ordered as his unit unleashed their payloads, the missiles tracking the massive craft.

* * *

Kewell's eyes lit up as his brain processed the sensor input from the Arminius. "I can _see_ them!" He gasped _and_ thought as the massive machine sprouted legs and arms as it morphed, shifting into a humanoid form 14 meters tall in a split second, once the transformation was complete it drew an immense VARIS gun and fired on full automatic, wiping out numerous missiles with a hail of green light while head mounted laser emitters speared the rest out of the air.

The machine then aimed its weapon at third squad.

["Wha!? What the hell is that thing!?"] Kagesaki shouted as Kewell commanded the Knightmare to fire its rifle, a spray of emerald energy bolts ripping third squad apart.

["CAPTAIN KAGEZAKI…!"]

* * *

[THIRD SQUAD: LOST]

Lelouch leaned back in his seat as he stared at the imposing transformed state of the Arminius, which quickly shifted back to its flight mode and chased him down at speeds the Gawain would never be able to outrun, even if it were fully operational.

The only way this could get worse is if the Britannian ace known as the 'King of the Sky' were to show up and start hunting him down.

A shudder went down his spine at that, as panicked radio calls had pointed to the aged pilot's presence in the since subsided air battle over the city.

["ZERO! ZEROOO!"] Kewell howled.

Lelouch's fingers danced across his console as he input firing coordinates. "I don't have time to be dealing with cannon fodder like you! Nemo! Get us to twelfth street now!" He ordered.

"Talk about one-sided convenience!" She grumbled as she pulled the Gawain back, Lelouch firing the sole operational hadron cannon at a building just behind the Arminius.

["YOU MISSED! YOU CAN'T HIT ME! KEWELL SORESI!"] Kewell cackled madly.

"You're _wrong_ , Leaf Boy. You're being hit right _now_!" Lelouch declared coldly as the, hopefully evacuated, skyscraper slammed down on the Arminius, tired of these antics.

["COWARD! BEHIND FROM BACK!?"] Kewell roared in dismay.

"Be crushed to _dust_ you relic!" Lelouch growled, narrowing his eyes as the dust cloud rose into the sky.

"Alright, now to get Nunnally…" He whispered before a transmission came through.

["Lelouch… It's C2… What's our status…?"] C2 croaked hoarsely.

"Our status is _irrelevant_ , drop whatever you're doing and find Nunnally!" He barked at her.

There was a brief pause before C2 began _laughing_.

* * *

C2 leaned against a ruined support column and laughed, a deranged sound on the verge of crying. "Is _that_ all!? It's not the fact that we're being stalled on all fronts, that I'm critically damaged and barely able to _walk_ , or that Ohgi's been shot apparently!? Not even the fact that Britannian reinforcements are inbound as we speak!? It's that your fucking _sister_ is missing that causes you to just lose your shit and condemn your troops to their fate like the entitled _brat_ you are!?" She cackled, as if Lelouch was telling her the funniest joke ever. "You're just like those nobles you loathe so damn much. _Aren't you_?"

And then her voice turned much darker.

"You know what Lelouch, I could ignore moments of idiocy, I could forgive your arrogance and childishness, I could understand you making mistakes, hell I could even tolerate you being a massive lying hypocrite, but _this_!? _Especially_ after your absolute cockup at the SAZ inauguration!? After all your talk about freeing Japan?! **Fuck! You!** " Her tone hardened further as she saw red, venom thick in her words. "I **warned** you, one more screwup and I'm out. And here it is, a fuckup on a level that's somehow even _worse_ than you losing control of your Geass and instigating a genocide, because this time it's entirely _intentional_."

There was a brief pause before she delivered her final warning.

"So, Lelouch, if you contact me on this channel again to demand I obey your orders, I _will_ find you, I _will_ **kill** everyone you send to keep me away from you, and then I'll fucking **_cut your head off_** and bring it to the Emperor **myself** on a golden platter…" She snarled, hatred oozing from her voice. "Go to **hell** you damn _traitor_." C2 growled as she cut the line and blocked it, leaving her alone to break back down into choked sobs and wonder why everything went so wrong.

* * *

Lelouch stared at his phone in shock, left totally speechless by the sheer amount of venom in what was once his closest ally's voice.

Nemo, for one, said nothing as he slammed his fist against side of the cockpit in a fit of rage.

"TO HELL WITH HER! I GIVE HER _EVERYTHING_ AND **THIS** IS HOW SHE TREATS ME!?" Lelouch screamed as the Gawain flew though the skies of the Tokyo settlement.

And yet, her words stung far more than he would ever admit.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"Damn that's a thick hatch…" Tamaki remarked as the cutting attempt was ceased due to the torch's inability to break the Lancelot's hatch at that range.

"Tamaki!" One of the support troops asked as they walked up with Rivalz and co in tow after having found them not long ago. "What do you want us to do with them? Should we lock them in the dorm or the gym with the other students?"

* * *

"Students…?" Suzaku whispered, some semblance of sanity breaching through his quiet rage.

* * *

"Call Zero!" Sophie pleaded. "I guarantee you that Zero wants us to be safe! Just ask Shirley!"

Tamaki growled at her and aimed his rifle at the violette, causing her to recoil in fear. "Aww shut up! Zero and me were tight! And I know the man better than anybody! And he's not going to hesitate to shoot _anyone_ who pulls shit at a time like this!"

"STOP!" Suzaku shouted as he popped the Lancelot's hatch as Shirley rushed over.

"Hoh! What's this? The Japanese Knight comes out to help the Brits?" Tamaki snarked as Suzaku spotted Shirley and clenched his fists, the girl looking away, too scared to stand up for her friends, and too ashamed to look him in the eye. "That White Knightmare is all we need from you! A dirty traitor like you can die right here!" Tamaki said as he aimed at Suzaku's center mass with his rifle.

Suddenly, Arthur leapt at Tamaki as he began to pull the trigger, causing him to miss wildly.

"Arthur..." Suzaku whispered, surprised to see his long-time tormentor actually _defending_ him.

"STUPID ASS CAT! SCREW IT! JUST KILL EVERYONE AND BLAME THE BRITANNIANS!" Tamaki yelled as he pointed his gun at the hissing animal, absolutely fed up with what was going on.

Then a brilliant spotlight illuminated the area.

["Good morning everyone!"] Lloyd's voice carried from the _Avalon_ 's external speakers as the airship roared over the school, floodlights sweeping over the campus.

The repainted Lancelot Initiate and a pair of modified Sutherlands using arm and leg components that wouldn't've been out of place on a Lancelot series unit, all using float packs, roared down from the Avalon, firing away at the Black Knights and causing them to disperse.

"FALL BACK! FALL BACK!" One of the infantry shouted as they ran off, 25mm rounds tearing up the turf around them and splintering at least one tree.

Before she left, Shirley threw Suzaku one last mournful glance.

The cold look in his eyes told her exactly how little he approved of her choice of allegiance.

Energy weapons fire cut through the brush, hastening the retreat of the Black Knights.

"Storm Eagle company! Move in!" Storm Eagle shouted as he hovered overhead, firing away with his buster as Hawk Ride armors landed near the Lancelot. "Form a cordon around the Lancelot and secure that unidentified radiological signature!"

"YES SIR!" His troops acknowledged as they advanced.

* * *

Rakshata turned to see the _Avalon_ , stunned as she heard Lloyd's voice issuing from it.

"You're kidding!? The Earl of Pudding actually came out to the front lines!?"

A spotlight illuminated them in its baleful light.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS** _ **Avalon**_ **, Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

" _Rakshata, I should've known… If anyone in Zero's ranks would've wanted a crack at my work, it was_ you _."_ Lloyd thought as he glared in her general direction.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"C'mon!" Milly shouted, dragging Sophie and Rivalz away.

"HEY! STOP YOU!" Tamaki ordered as he turned to face him, not quite realizing how outgunned he was yet.

The Lancelot Initiate landed before him, the idiot firing his rifle at the white and silver Knightmare on reflex, with Cecile not even bothering to use the Blaze Luminous, instead kneeling down in front of his line of fire to block the shots before Tamaki was chased off by cannonfire from several Hawk Ride Armors that had begun moving up.

* * *

["Well miss Cecile, how's the Initiate working out?"] Lloyd asked.

"All systems green, the parts are ready to be practically applied." She confirmed.

* * *

The CIWS guns on the _Avalon_ opened fire with pinpoint accuracy, cutting apart the Gefjun disturbers and giving Suzaku full power back.

* * *

"It's back on!"

As the main screen lit up, a transmission from Cecile came through. ["Unlock your fuel hatch, we'll replace your energy filler and the left arm unit."]

"Thanks! But why did you come out here Miss Cecile?"

["Good question, why _did_ we come here Lloyd?"]

["Why else?"] Lloyd said as one of the Sutherlands attached a spare arm for the Initiate to the Lancelot while the other replaced the energy filler. ["To recover the Lancelot of course… And to do a few _other_ things as well."] He admitted.

["It's a spare part from the Initiate that Liath transferred to us, is it showing contact?"] Cecile asked him.

"They've cleared the compatibility check." Suzaku reported.

["Good, now leave this place to us and the Maverick Hunters! You go after Zero!"] She instructed.

Suzaku's face hardened. "Thanks to you I will. Please protect Ashford Academy and everyone here!"

["Yes, after all, my Fiance is here too."] Lloyd chuckled.

As the Lancelot took off, Suzaku saw Arthur on one of the rooftops, looking directly at the Knightmare.

He smiled at the cat before he was interrupted by beeping from his communications system, noting it was a priority code.

"Royal Private Channel?" He murmured as he accepted the call without hesitation.

["Ku… Kururugi…?"] Cornelia gasped weakly, causing his eyes to widen.

"Viceroy Cornelia!"

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 got up to her feet, still holding X's arm as Zero rushed over, having disobeyed orders to wait for a team to be assembled so he could search for X.

The red armored hunter stopped cold as he saw C2 and lowered his buster upon seeing her slumped shoulders.

"Is he…?" Zero asked tentatively as he stepped over.

"I don't know…" She whispered.

Zero raised a hand to console her, despite his duty he knew how close the two were, before he drew his saber after hearing something. "We're not alone…" He whispered, seeing Reploid eyes gleam through the smoke.

Alice lunged out from the dust and slammed C2 back, compromising her damaged chest armor further and sending her flying.

Zero moved to help C2 before a buster shot flew past him, Forte standing there with a psychotic grin on his face. "YOUR FIGHT IS WITH ME!"

Zero grimaced and activated his blade, recognizing the other Reploid's design from the files he'd seen on Kamine Island. "So be it!" He shouted as he lunged forwards.

* * *

C2 got back up and coughed up some lubricant, still somewhat brooding in X's presumed destruction as the Irregulars, minus Sancia, circled her.

"Heh, told you it'd be easy to get her away from everyone else. We let Forte and that old clunker handle Zero, while we dismantle our predecessor." Mao said as she stopped in front of C2.

"Tell me… Was it you who dropped this block?" C2 murmured as she stood there.

Mao shrugged with a smug grin on her face. "Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't? Who can say for sure?"

C2 clenched her fists and dropped X's arm, rage boiling over once again. "Good, because now I won't feel bad in the slightest for this…" She whispered as she lunged forwards.

And was grabbed by Dalaque, whom promptly tossed her into a wall.

As C2 slumped to the ground, new rends opening fresh gaps in her armor and exposing further elements of her internal endoskeleton and wiring, a feeling of hopelessness set in.

 _"Damnit... They... Managed to outplay me..."_ She realized as she resigned herself to her fate.

And then a visual only transmission played across her vision.

[QUERY: DO YOU WISH TO SURVIVE?]

" _Yes…"_ She thought, remembering that despite her comments to Lelouch, she _was_ doing this for Nunnally. But if something happened to the girl, it wouldn't hold her back or distract her.

It irked her that Lelouch failed to see this in his self-centeredness.

Several _very_ tempting lines of thought came to mind, C2 shrugging them off, she'd seen enough wanton slaughter by now to just want the fighting to stop, to stop being involved in the petty grudge matches perpetuated by humans, even if the temptation to just kill the humans and let Reploids sort out the world was oh so enticing for some reason.

[CONFIRMATION: AUTHORIZATION FOR LALINDE ARMOR MK1 GRANTED TO LMN-C.]

 _"What…?"_

* * *

 **October 12, 2017.**

 **Low Earth Orbit.**

A Maverick Hunter transerver satellite realigned its transmitter and receiver antennas, the former to Area 11, and the latter to a satellite uplink in Area 12.

[UPLINK CONFIRMED: TRANSMITTING.]

A stream of data raced towards the satellite, and then blazed back down to earth as a pillar of golden energy.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

A brilliant shaft of light blew through the cloud layer over the settlement, bringing the fighting to a near standstill briefly as everyone in Tokyo and its surroundings witnessed the event.

"What's that…?" Nemo whispered as the Gawain's Druid system tried to calculate what was occurring and make sense of the sudden conversion of data to physical matter, something which seemingly defied the laws of physics and was thus incomprehensible to the supercomputer built into the Knightmare.

Lelouch simply stared in awe, unaware of this and briefly distracted from his mental tirading.

* * *

"CRAP!" Dalaque yelped as she jumped away from the beam.

C2 stood up as she was immersed in it, her prior damage seemingly vanishing.

"What… What the fuck…?!" Mao gasped, stumbling back.

Alice deadpanned. "Oh this is some serious shonen crap right here…" She sighed as she landed next to a frightened Lucretia after leaping back herself.

C2 marched out of the light. Now clad in white armor with gold trimming, the 'ear' antenna on her helmet now each with an added sub-antenna sticking out to the bottom and a gold v-fin crest sweeping up past the 'ridge' of her helmet from above the sub-camera.

Additionally, her armor now boasted a large white and gold shield on her left arm, a red scarf, an emerald green visor, and added knee and elbow armor plating for.

"I always hated those shows that gave the hero some fancy upgrade out of literally nowhere!" Dalaque roared as she charged forwards, C2 sidestepping her as if on auto-pilot, green hair flowing behind her as Dalaque slammed into the wall.

" _Did Doctor Lalinde really… Leave this for me…?"_ C2 wondered as she processed what was happening.

["This is a pre-recorded message. C2, dear, if you're hearing this… Then it means things are dire enough for you that the automatic request systems have engaged…"] C2 blocked a shot from Sancia with her shield as she engaged her right arm's drill, the tool spinning to life as a crackling sheath of red energy pooled around it and extended it to twice the effective length. ["I never wished for you to actually have to use this armor, but if you are… Then I hope you use its power to make the world a better place for people. So that such weaponry may never be needed again."]

C2 smiled softly. _"I see… So I was wrong about you… The humans of your time must have been generally kinder people than what I have to deal with..."_ She thought as a tear rolled down her face. "Thank you… Mother…" C2 whispered as she turned to face a trembling Mao. "Alright, since I _still_ have no idea who the hell you people are, I'm just going to be plain, you buried the guy I like under tons of rubble and I'm _already_ pissed off at someone else for being a fucking idiot. So get the hell out of my sight peacefully, or I'll _make_ you."

"Don't just stand there like idiots! Get her!" Mao screamed as Alice and Dalaque charged at C2.

C2 sidestepped Dalaque and swept the energy 'drill' through Alice's legs, severing them from her body and sending her flying off into a heap of rubble.

"ALICE!" Dalaque screamed as she punched towards C2, whom sidestepped her and severed her right arm at the elbow and then kicked her away.

Mao snarled before waving forward a squad of R1 units outfitted with claws for melee combat.

Several more shots from Sancia rained down on C2, whom deflected them with her shield before she jetted forwards, dashing through the R1 formation as she activated her speed gear, the mass production type Reploids _exploding_ as their solar cores went up.

A Redback Mechaniloid Spider Tank was the next to engage, bursting from a previously underground transit tunnel and spraying C2 with 40mm grenades and .50 cal linear machine gun fire.

C2's eyes flashed gold and she evaded the attack, the turret of the walking tank tracking her in an attempt to get a bead with its main gun.

 _"One shot at this, otherwise it'll crush me."_

Firing her boosters, C2 slide dashed under the machine on her _back_ and fired a charge shot through the vulnerable underside of the Mechaniloid as she did so, which promptly brewed up and collapsed onto the ground.

"How the hell did she!? Nevermind! Retreat!" Mao gasped as she turned and ran, Lucretia in tow while Dalaque and Alice were transervered away.

"They need more than two direct combat units…" C2 grumbled while getting up, she turned to see Zero walk over to her, looking a bit shaken, and carrying X over his shoulder.

"X!" She shouted and ran over, picking up his arm on the way.

He cracked an eye open. "Heh… Worried you didn't I…" He wheezed.

C2 took him from Zero and held him close. "Easy… You're gonna crush something." X gasped as metal creaked under C2's bear hug.

She pulled back and smiled softly. "I'm just glad you're okay…" She whispered.

"So… We still continuing our duel?" X asked. "Gonna have to say, I think I wouldn't stand a chance now." He joked.

C2 glanced up to the sounds of the battle. "Actually we don't really have a reason to fight anymore... I tendered my resignation personally to Zero..."

That threw both of the hunters for a loop. "What…? Why?" X asked, genuinely confused.

She had just opened her mouth to answer when the east wall of the block burst open in a violent flash of magenta, the Badb stepping out and spreading its wings with an electronic shriek, a Burai's crushed torso clenched in its foot talons.

"Repliforce!?" C2 gasped as she saw the markings on the Gawain sized ride armor. _"Well that explains all the units that went dark..."_ She realized morbidly as she saw the trail of destruction that'd been carved out behind it.

["Mission Objective… Destroy all Black Knights… Destroy Zero… Destroy… Zero…"] Iris's emotionless voice echoed over the clearing as the Badb locked onto Zero in Iris's confusion, unable to differentiate the human terrorist from the Maverick Hunter as her processors melted down and her systems corrupted.

"C2… Take X…" Zero whispered as he handed a protesting X off to her. "This is about to get ugly…"

["Hostile located… Destroying…"] Iris whispered as she locked onto the red armored Maverick Hunter, as if unsure as to what it was doing, firing off the Badb's wing mounted lasers, missing the trio as C2 leapt away with X in her arms.

"IRIS! STOP!" Zero begged as he outstretched his arms. "I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU!"

["Then die…"] Iris replied as she raised the Badb's arm cannon, having locked onto him on reflex.

Zero closed his eyes. "Forgive me…" He whispered as he launched himself at the Badb without hesitation, emerald saber flashing to life as he uttered a battle cry.

* * *

C2 hopped up the side of the pit and landed on a rooftop next to the Maverick Hunter lines with a flare from her thrusters and slowly placed X down on the roof, lying him next to a small transmission repeater.

"So… What're you doing after this…" He asked, trying to lighten the mood as he sat up.

"Probably going off to look for more information about myself… I know Doctor Lalinde left me this armor for a reason… But… I want to see if my memories are real, and not planted or the result of my imagination…"

X nodded at her. "Just stay safe okay?" He asked, knowing he couldn't stop her or talk her out of it.

She gave him a thumbs up. "You too, go get yourself fixed up." C2 chuckled, turning to walk away before stopping and suddenly leaning down, pulling him into a kiss, X once again caught off guard by it, especially given the length and the fact she was forcing her tongue into his mouth.

His VWS registered her Databank Nanite Architecture and copied the 'Vermilion Driller' weapon into his databanks.

He opened his eyes as she pulled away after what seemed like twenty minutes. "Wha..."

"This time, it was because I'd thought you died. You could stand to be a little more assertive too. Dumbass." She joked playfully as she turned and walked to the edge of the roof, before turning and giving him a sultry wink and smacking her own rear playfully before she leapt off.

X flushed red at the obvious signal.

"Somehow... I think I'm going to score a home run next time she gets some alone time with me..." He mused.

His line of thought was dashed by a squad of Maverick Hunter troopers emerging from the stairwell and heading over to him.

He sighed and frowned, knowing there was hell to pay over this.

Including a court martial.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Britannian Government Bureau, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

A group of artillery Burais shelled the government tower with their heavy cannons and Sattel Waffen launchers, only to be annihilated by the return barrage.

"Damn their tenacity! Just what I'd expect from Cornelia's elite!" Todoh groused as he wished they still had air power to play, and that their remaining artillery wasn't already committed.

Still, there were other things that had him even more on edge. _"Why haven't their reinforcements moved in…?"_ He wondered suspiciously, suspecting that Liath was at play again.

That damnable Iron Witch was toying with them at this point.

["Todoh."] Zero announced.

"Hm?"

["For now I'm leaving all Military operations in your hands!"] Zero informed him. ["Ohgi's been wounded, have Diethard his duties!"]

"Hold on a second!" Todoh interrupted, his eyes wide. "What do you mean leaving them to _me_?!"

["I have another urgent matter that requires my undivided attention! I won't respond to _any_ further communications from you!"]

"W… Wait! What else could be so much more urgent than _this_!?" Todoh demanded as Zero cut the channel.

["Seventh Squad wiped out!"] Someone reported.

"What!?"

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

One of the two Sutherland Testbeds being used by ASEEC fired upon a Burai that was trying to destroy it ineffectually thanks to its Blaze Luminous, sending the cockpit block firing off.

"Remain calm! So wait your turn to board!" Milly shouted as the _Avalon_ began loading on the students, staff, and faculty of Ashford via a gondola, the Blaze Luminous of the ship stopping fire from the Black Knights. "Youngest students go first!"

* * *

"We've gotta fall back!" A Black Knight shouted.

"Destroy any records you can't take!" Another ordered as a Burai rushed past him while Ohgi was carted to a safer position.

"Hurry! Hurry!" A third yelled as Ohgi slowly regained consciousness.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The Arminius burst from the skyscraper it had been trapped under, the immense machine's head turning to track the Gawain's course as it took off and shifted back to flight mode.

* * *

 **Viceroy's Palace, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"This battle situation… Bodes victory… For my forces…" Cornelia coughed as Suzaku and Darlton knelt next to her. "Am I clear? Do all you can… To hide the fact I've been wounded…" She ordered them. "It'll only disrupt morale… Even among Guilford and the Glaston Knights… You're the only one… We can tell…"

"Your Higness I…"

"Darlton… It wasn't your fault… Zero compelled you…" She consoled him.

"Still I…" He muttered before falling silent.

Cornelia frowned, racking her memory. "I…"

"Don't try to talk anymore, Your Highness." Suzaku told her.

"Zero… Zero's headed towards Kamine Island…" She told Suzaku, vaguely remembering the Gawain's pilot mention it. "Anything more… I can't remember…"

"Geass…" Suzaku whispered softly, soft enough that neither of them could hear.

"You're Euphie's Knight… Aren't you…?" Cornelia asked him. "Then you must… Go and… Clear her dishonored name!"

Suzaku nodded firmly, knowing that Euphie had likely landed in the homeland by now to continue treatment. "Yes…"

"I know… That this is a bit… Informal…" Cornelia began as she gestured ceremonially, tapping Suzaku on each shoulder with her fingers. "But as Second Princess... High General of the Empire… And Viceroy of Area 11… I hereby dub thee… Knight of Honor of Britannia..." She said. "You are now a Knight in both name and station… Go... Suzaku Kururugi!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" He acknowledged as he stood up and strode over to the Lancelot, leaving Cornelia and Darlton behind.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

A Sutherland emerged from cover and fired off its heavy cannon against the defense line of the captured G-1.

The units defending the landship retaliated in kind, leading to the latest firefight, Kaguya growing worried about the troops now advancing on her.

And about Zero's disappearance.

"What, does that mean Zero's disappeared?" She asked Diethard.

["Not at all, it means he's simply transferred command to us on-site here."] Diethard replied over the phone as he was driven to Ashford.

What the man didn't vocalize was his concerns about what that meant.

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"I WANNA KNOW WHY OHGI WAS SHOT! AND WHERE THE HELL IS ZERO!?" Tamaki demanded as he held Minami up by the shirt.

"I don't know! He just asked where one of the hostages was and then hung up when I told him I didn't know!" The other man replied.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["Can't someone get ahold of him?!"] Sugiyama asked.

"No way! He told Todoh he was ignoring any further transmissions!" A radioman shouted back at his Burai.

["Well what about C2!?"]

"No response from her either!"

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"It makes no sense… He had no reason to just… Run away…" Rakshata mumbled as she, her aides, and Shirley walked along the balcony of Ashford's buildings.

" _Lulu… Why would you do this… Is Nunna in trouble?"_ The Ginger thought nervously.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

"In spite of Todoh's experience, if he doesn't see the entire picture…" Asahina realized soberly.

* * *

"Zero… I don't know what to do next…" Kallen mumbled, lost and directionless.

And then her comm channel pinged.

["Kallen…"] Ohgi gasped as she picked up.

"Ohgi! Are you alright!?"

["Yeah…"] He replied weakly. ["Kallen, listen to me… Go after Zero!"]

She tilted her head up almost imperceptibly.

["There must be… A reason… He's acting this way…"] Ohgi gasped as a salvaged Gloucester arm was attached to the Guren. ["Save him… Zero… Hes the one who will realize… Naoto's dream…"]

"But! How do I find him!?"

["You should… See it soon…"] Ohgi said cryptically as her threat ID sensor picked up the Lancelot.

Kallen gasped as it roared over her position. "That's… The Lancelot! What would be drawing him away from here!? And how-"

["Rakshata… Put a transmitter… On it…"] Ohgi explained.

Kallen's gaze hardened as she realized that Suzaku's earlier behavior meant one thing, he was after Zero's blood.

And so, the only reason he'd leave a battle like this…

Was to hunt down Zero.

"Understood." Kallen acknowledged before switching channels. "Supply corps! Send a captured air transport to me ASAP!" She ordered. "It's top priority!"

* * *

Zero slashed at the Badb, the Ride Armor soaring above his reach, before dodging another salvo of lasers from its wing emitters.

["All who stand in my path must die…"] Iris told him as he fired a salvo of shots from his buster. ["I must avenge Princess Euphemia…"]

"Then why attack me!? I had nothing to do with that!"

The Badb halted briefly as the failing Iris processed the logic. ["Logic error... Cannot… Locate… Target… New objective… Annihilate all non-Britannians in Tokyo settlement to draw Zero out of hiding…"]

Zero's eyes widened as the Badb spread its wings to take full flight. "Iris, don't! That's something a Maverick would say!" He shouted at her.

["Interrogation of Black Knights comms, indicates Zero abandoning cause… Reassessing options... Annihilating settlement's total _human_ population has 98% chance of drawing him back…"] She droned, ignoring him, it was becoming rapidly apparent that Iris was no longer capable of listening to reason.

And with the lines of communication broken, he couldn't call in to get her to stand down.

" _Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster…"_

Nietzsche's words rang in Zero's mind as he closed his eyes.

He knew what he had to do.

"I'm sorry Iris... But you leave me no choice"

He opened them, his gaze determined as he took a stance while a red aura began to form around his body, a result of his internal systems readying everything for a one-hit attack, the Badb began charging its magnus hadron cannon and aimed it directly at him as the machine reassessed the threat he posed to it.

Zero shifted his stance as he prepared something he'd only practiced a few times before.

He couldn't afford to fail now, not with so many lives at stake.

"Ittouryoudan: Genmu Zero!" He yelled in Japanese as he swung the blade, catching Iris off-guard as a brilliant wave of Emerald Energy slashed down through the Badb, bisecting the machine diagonally, the reactors blowing apart as the Giga Ride Armor fell from the sky.

The 6-meter tall mecha collapsed into a heap of smoldering scrap as Zero deactivated his saber, steam hissing off his body parts.

His eyes widened as his senses rushed back to him.

"Iris!" He shouted as he rushed into the debris, soon finding her tangled in wires and noticeably damaged.

He knelt down next to her. "Iris!" He gasped.

She opened her eyes and turned her head to face him, the cameras mounted behind the corneas rotating as they attempted to adjust to the optical conditions. "Rrrmm… Zero…"

"Iris…"

"Zero… Don't blame Repliforce or Britannia for this… That was me… I wanted us… To live together… In a world where only Reploids exist…" She wheezed, coming back to her senses at last without the data overload interfering with her logic processes.

"Iris! That's only fantasy! There is no world _just_ for Reploids!"

"I know… But after… After the SAZ… After this... I felt… Even in spite of my combat sub-programming... That humans didn't deserve people like Euphemia… Who poured every bit of heart they had into making the world a better place without resorting to violence… I wanted to believe we could have a place of our own where we wouldn't get caught in their squabbles…" She slowly reached up for him, arm shaking. "I wanted to live in that place… With _you_."

Zero grasped her hand.

"Iris…" He whispered, at a loss for words.

She smiled earnestly at him before her processors finally melted down from the overloads she'd been subjected to and she closed her eyes, head lolling to the side as she went offline.

Permanently.

Zero's eyes widened. "Iris? Iris...? **Iris**!" He begged as he gently shook her body, hoping above all else that she was just playing around. "Iris..."

When he got no response, he pulled her close. "Iris…" He sobbed.

The Maverick Hunter shot to his feet, holding her in his arms as he screamed into the sky in anguish. A primal cry of sorrow and rage.

" **NO!** **THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! WHAT REASON DO I HAVE TO GO ON!? WHAT ARE ANY OF US EVEN FIGHTING FOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRR?!** "

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

["Damnit! Can't we at least hold this place!? And what the hell are the hunters doing here!?"] Tamaki growled as the remaining Burais at Ashford continued firing on the ASEEC and Maverick Hunter units.

* * *

The Sutherlands and Lancelot Trial took to the air, using their maneuvering advantage to the fullest.

* * *

["It will only be until the last of the students and staff have boarded the ship, hang in there."] Lloyd informed Cecile.

"Yes I will." She replied as her threat ID system reported a new thermal contact, Knightmare class.

Along with something _else_.

"Huh!? Why am I reading a thermal reaction in there!?"

* * *

The Ganymede, Nina behind the controls and with her improvised nuke strapped to it, was elevated to the surface, the third gen shedding its power supply cables.

* * *

"A Knightmare!" Tamaki gasped.

* * *

"What in the world is that… Antique, doing here?!" Rakshata asked as Shirley's eyes widened.

"The Ganymede!?" The ginger whispered.

* * *

"Sir!" A Reploid jet jumper said, catching

"Yes, that's the signature we detected..." Storm Eagle noted with narrowed eyes.

* * *

Milly had the same reaction as she, Rivalz, and Sophie stepped forwards.

And then Milly saw _who_ was behind the controls. "Nina!" She gasped as C2 finally made her way back to Ashford on a stolen motorcycle.

* * *

[WARNING! NUCLEAR DEVICE DETECTED! YIELD ESTIMATE 15 MEGATONS TNT EQUIVALENT. MINIMUM SAFE DISTANCE OVER 34 KILOMETERS FROM DETONATION POINT.] The Reploid's systems blared into her mind.

She didn't know _what_ a nuclear device was, but she had a fairly good idea of what Fifteen Megatons of TNT could do if set off in one charge.

And so did Lloyd apparently.

["OH HELL! CEASE FIRE!"] He ordered in an actual panic. ["THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO BLACK KNIGHTS!]

* * *

Rakshata looked up at the _Avalon_ , shocked to hear **actual** panic in Lloyd's voice.

["Call a temporary truce! We can't fire on that!"] Lloyd shouted as the Ganymede moved between the ASEEC forces and the Black Knights.

"Listen everyone! Do as he says! Hold your fire!" She ordered hurriedly.

" _If it's got_ Lloyd _that panicked… Then… It's a weapon of mass destruction…"_ She realized.

* * *

Storm Eagle stared in horror at what should've been only _theory_.

"Sir… Is that an actual!?" One of the troopers whispered.

"Yes… Yes it is…"

* * *

["Nina… Did you _complete_ it…?"] Lloyd asked nervously.

"There wasn't enough time to test it." She admitted. "I don't know if it'll explode. But I know it'll be enough to destroy _everything_."

She fixed her glare on the distance battle. "Still… I'll try to…"

"NINA! WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY EXPLODE!?" Milly asked as she rushed forwards only to be blocked off by the Initiate kneeling down and putting its arm in front of her.

["It's dangerous! Stay back!"] Cecile warned her.

["You see… If her theory is correct… That thing may destroy the _entire_ Tokyo Settlement."] Lloyd said grimly, stunning everyone present.

["But that isn't possi-"] Tamaki began.

"BELIEVE IT!" Rakshata interrupted him. "She's even using Sakuradite in the design to up the yield!"

C2 walked up next to Tamaki's knightmare.

"By my estimates, the yield on that thing is equal to fifteen _million_ tons of TNT, if it goes off… It'll wipe out much of the settlement and cause _massive_ casualties in the surrounding areas." The Reploid warned.

Everyone paled universally in response.

"Zero, where is he!?" Nina demanded as she pulled up the detonator. "TELL ME WHERE HE IS!" She begged. "PRINCESS EUPHEMIA WILL BE _AVENGED_! WHERE IS ZERO!?"

C2 sighed and stepped in front of the Ganymede. "He's not here. He left the settlement and is out over the Pacific."

Nina's eyes fell as she realized how pointless her bomb was now. "No… That can't be true…"

"Just ask the Black Knights… He ditched them because something more 'important' than _liberating_ _their country_ popped up." She fumed, causing Nina to flick the safety of the remote back on and break down into sobbing tears as she slowly lowered the detonator.

The use of the word 'them' was damning to Shirley as she picked up on it.

"Why…!? WHY!?" Nina screamed. " **WHYYY!?** "

"Disgusting..." C2 sneered as Nina wept, the Reploid turning and walked off, nobody willing to take their eyes off Nina long enough to try stopping her.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Pacific Ocean.**

The Gawain roared over the Pacific, heading due South towards Kamine Island.

" _If I've lost Nunnally… Then what have I been fighting for all this time!? What's the point of this war for independence!? Why did Euphie have to be sacrificed as a pariah!?"_ He thought as he let Nemo pilot the Knightmare.

"Kamine Island in sight!" Nemo reported, Lelouch looking up and seeing the island grow on the forward cockpit screens.

"I'm taking Nunnally back! No matter _who_ tries to stop me!" He promised.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **Kamine Island, Area 11.**

The Gawain gently landed outside of the entrance to the Thought Elevator.

"It figures it'd be here… Do you have some sort of connection to this place?" He asked her warily.

"Not _this_ one." Nemo admitted.

"Hmph… Meaning there are other places similar to this one. And others similar to you as well I suppose." He observed based on her admission, raising an eyebrow. "Does Nunnally's abductor have a Geass power?" He asked.

"I don't know that much."

He grunted in irritation.

"It's the truth."

He closed his eyes. "I don't doubt it. We're still accomplices so at the very least I should give you the benefit of believing you."

"Thank you." She replied just as an ancient mental trap oozed out of the entrance, having been activated by V.V. in anticipation of their arrival.

"What's the matter!?"

"I see! This is!" She gasped, only to find it had already reached the Gawain.

Both herself and Lelouch were dumped into yet another mental circuit.

" _Calm down!"_ Nemo instructed him. _"We're caught in a trap that was set for intruders. The one who activated it is-"_ She gasped suddenly as the mental attack increased its power as a result of her resistance. Dumping her and Lelouch into her own memories.

* * *

 **Unknown date.**

 **ERROR, LOCATION NOT FOUND.**

"Subject 309 was decanted earlier…" A researcher sighed as he and a colleague walked past a small room.

"What happened…?"

"Initial tests… Didn't take well… Subject failed to regenerate damage from multiple gunshot wounds even after prior feeding and was labeled a failure."

" _Is this…? Nemo's life…?"_ Lelouch thought as he watched one of the men look into the room.

"042 is the only survivor isn't she…"

"It's possible that the artificial code 042 maintains is a fluke, that or Sub-Director C.C. did something with her…"

 _"There's that damn name again..."_ Lelouch thought.

There had to be some definite link between Nemo, C2, and this... C.C..

But what?

" _V.V. and C.C…. Who are they?"_

"Director V.V. has long maintained that the project is completely unnecessary, despite 042's successes, overall failures are impossible to justify continuing, we're shutting it down and using 042 for further research into Code."

The first man sighed. "Very well then, if that is his decision. Commence sarin gas test…"

Lelouch's eyes widened at the mention of 'sarin gas', soon he heard the muffled sounds of someone slamming against the pressurized door. Banging on it helplessly and screaming.

Images of gruesome deaths began to flash through his mind, far more vivid and detailed than at Narita, pools of blood draining underneath Nemo's body.

" _Please…! Stop it…!"_ Lelouch begged as the mental assault of Nemo's gruesome past continued. _"STOP IT!"_

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

C2 watched as a T-4 VTOL carrying the Guren flew out to sea, figuring Kallen was chasing after Suzaku.

"So… You going to confront me on why I'm ditching a sinking ship like a rat?" She asked Rokusho as he walked into the dawn light.

"No… I've come to the same conclusion, that Zero abandoned us." The KWG type Reploid admitted with some apprehension.

C2 glanced over her shoulder. "Then why are you here? I would've assumed you'd become a wanderer or something."

"I'm off to track down Doctor Aki and Doctor Hushi, they were two of Japan's premier Reploid researchers, and my creators, prior to the invasion, at Rakshata's request."

C2 nodded at him. "I see, good luck then."

"She also wanted me to give you this chip." He said as he handed a device to her. "It's compatible with your systems and allows you to tap into the Maverick Hunters' global positioning system and transerver network remotely, so you don't need to waste time trying to evade customs services and going around the hard way. It auto-updates to account for changes in their access codes as well in case you're worried about it." The silver and blue Reploid explained. "Don't ask how she found the time to make this."

C2 took it from him and frowned as she inserted it into a slot in her abdomen, which she closed back up. "Why give this to me?"

"She requested that you visit her in India at some point after the aftermath dies down, she has a shortlist of dig sites containing Geoworks international facilities that might pique your interest."

That got her on edge. "Rakshata doesn't do _anything_ for free, what does she want in return?"

"I'd assume at the very least copies of your schematics and core programming to tinker with."

C2 turned away, watching the dots that marked the arrival of the Repliforce Air Armada approach in the distance. "Tell her I'll sleep on it." She huffed, at least Rakshata wore her heart on her sleeve, all she cared about was engineering and beating Lloyd Asplund.

Things C2 could tolerate.

By the time she walked off, Rokusho had already vanished.

* * *

 **Mental Space.**

" _Nemo… These visions… Are they of your…?"_ He asked.

She turned the head of her mental projection to face him, her body facing away at an angle so as to retain her modesty given the lack of clothing. _"I'll I've ever had is these memories and that number, there hasn't been a single person who's ever truly noticed that I exist, all I was to them was an object, a research project… Even my name means nothing. I'm all alone…"_

" _Have you forgotten?"_ Lelouch asked, memories of their time together flashing by. _"You are_ not _alone!"_

That caught Nemo by surprise. _"We're eachothers accomplices… I may have lost C2 to my own hubris, that I now see… But if you're supposed to be someone without their own identity, then let me be the same… Lelouch Lamperouge and Lelouch vi Britannia were_ both _supposed to die when I ousted Britannia from Japan, replaced by Zero, a symbol without a face pinned to them… Together, we're_ both _nobody."_

She chuckled and smiled at him. _"Odd thing to say at a time like this."_

* * *

 **Kamine Island, Area 11.**

Both of them stirred and regained consciousness.

"Nemo… Are you okay…?" Lelouch groaned.

"Who do you think you're talking too…" She whispered before she noticed a flash and moved the Gawain into the air to avoid a Slash Harken strike from the Arminius.

["ZERO!"] Kewell shouted. ["IT IS I! REPENT IS NOW!"]

"Persistent bastard isn't he…" Nemo remarked.

"I should've shot down his cockpit back at Narita…" Lelouch snarled. "STUBBORN ASS!" He shouted back over the Gawain's speakers.

The two machines danced through the sky, Nemo doing her utmost to prevent the Arminius from landing a hit.

Unfortunately the latter was too responsive for something as clunky as the Gawain, and a slash harken found its mark on the left arm.

"The section that Cornelia and that sniper damaged!" Lelouch grunted as he watched their energy reserves drop precipitously as the solar reactors struggled to catch up.

Nemo gasped as smoke from burning electronics slowly began to filter into the cockpit. "We've got one shot left in the hadron cannon!" She said as she cut the lift power, causing the Gawain to fall.

["It's time for my wonderful vindication!"] Kewell shrieked as he dove at them, the Gawain rolling and firing its last shot from the remaining Hadron cannon into the sea, vaporizing a massive amount of water into boiling steam and blinding his visual and thermal sensors.

["INSIDIOUS ISOLATION INTOLERANT IMPUDENCE!"] Kewell roared as the Arminius clawed for altitude after pulling out of its dive.

" _I'll_ handle this lunatic! You go after Nunnally!" Nemo barked at him.

"But we're almost out of energy!" Lelouch replied after glancing at the power supply.

"I'll be alright!" Nemo said before she realized exactly _how_ she could stop Kewell. "Well… I _am_ nervous…" She stated as she turned to face him, an odd look in her crimson eyes. "You _have_ to prevail, over your own past, and over the outcomes of your actions, and over fate itself if necessary." She told him as she climbed up towards the back seat.

And then kissed him on the lips.

" _If C2 were here she'd make a snarky remark about me and women."_ Lelouch thought as he blinked through the kiss.

He also had the oddest sense of Deja Vu, a feeling that ever since he'd gotten his Geass had become increasingly frequent to his discomfort.

* * *

Kewell roared up through the clouds and shifted the Arminius to Knightmare mode, scanning about in search of the Gawain.

* * *

The nearly depleted KMF set Lelouch down on the rocks. "Nemo… Don't die…" He instructed her.

"Again, who do you think you're talking to?" She remarked, causing him to smirk at her.

" _Hmph… Maybe if I'd turned out differently… I'd be more interested in the opposite sex…"_ He thought as he began to put on his mask. "You have a point." He conceded as he slid the outer mask on and sealed it up, watching the Gawain roar directly at the Arminius.

* * *

["I'VE FOUND HIM!"] Kewell yelled, unaware that Zero had abandoned the Gawain as Nemo briefly dueled with the Arminius, scoring a direct hit on the float system with the Gawain's finger harkens.

"You're not my first pick to commit suicide with, but-" She grumbled as she wrapped the Gawain around the Arminius, preventing it from attempting to reach Kamine as she increased own float system's forward propulsion power with all of the Gawain's remaining energy.

Kewell screamed as the two machines impacted the water at high speed and began to descend into the crushing depths of the Pacific.

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

The Glaston Knights fired upon Black Knights forces from cover, Sattel-Waffen missiles and VARIS shots spewing forth.

"Hold your ground! Victory is within our reach! Be strong!" Claudio S. Darlton shouted to the Britannian forces to rally them.

* * *

["Damnit! We can't hold out!"] Chiba yelled in a panic.

["Enemy reinforcements will be here soon! Hiryuu's fleet reported that they've diverted to Ishinomaki after sighting a Repliforce air flotilla!"] Asahina reported.

["An _air_ flotilla!?"]

* * *

["What should we do!?"] Sugiyama pleaded as a sniper shot from a Sutherland positioned atop a nearby skyscraper sent Inoue's Knightmare crashing to the ground in flames.

["Inoue…?"] Sugiyama whispered. ["WHERE IS HE!? ZEEEROOOOO!"] He screamed in anguish.

* * *

"All forces charge! We'll smash these filthy rebels in one blow!" Guilford ordered.

["Belay that!"] Colonel informed him. ["Repliforce will soften them up."] A statement rather than a boast.

His voice sounded more tense than Guilford expected but he acknowledged the order.

Soon a quartet of Repliforce F-11s screamed over the Black Knights lines, releasing guided glide bombs so they would arc down into their ranks while a group of triangular A-4 Barracuda IIs, sleek F-12 Wasps, stealthy A-3 Vigilante strike bombers, and specially marked AV-1 Cobras followed, releasing their own munitions into the enemy ranks.

["Sir Guilford, you are clear to engage!"] Colonel confirmed once the blasts subsided.

"ALL FORCES! CHAAARGE!" Guilford yelled over his comms.

Sutherlands, Glasgows, Liverpools, Ride Armors, tanks, Mechaniloids, Gloucesters, Lionels, APCs, infantry and armored cars burst from cover, led by Guilford's Bors unit and sweeping en-masse towards the faltering Black Knights.

["FOR BRITANNIA!"] They shouted as one.

* * *

"Fight to your last breath!" Todoh urged his forces as he attempted to hack and slash his way through the oncoming tide while rallying his surviving troops. "Stop at nothing! Because if they break through here! Our lines will totally collapse!"

* * *

 **Ashford Academy, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

As the dawn light shone down on Ashford, Diethard stepped away from a TACNET console after watching as dozens of Repliforce Knightmare Frames, Mechaniloids, and Ride Armors dropped behind Todoh's lines while the 501st at O'Hare and the forces Liath had held back in and around the settlement moved in on a single order, wings of Britannian combat planes and VTOL gunships sweeping forth from airfields, assault ships and carriers in the region as well.

And worst of all, the forces in the settlement's south had come under increasing amounts of fire from the Britannian Navy and the air fleet above.

There were even reports that the Britannian Marine Corps had begun landing troops on the coastline.

Meanwhile, the Black Knights, Maverick Hunters, and ASEEC stood in their Mexican standoff, neither side willing to make a sudden move and risk Nina losing it again.

Nobody wished to find out the hard way if her bomb worked.

" _It's not that Todoh isn't a brilliant military leader…"_ Diethard thought in a panic as he saw the immense and imposing shape of the _Morgan le Fay_ move towards Ashford to end the standoff. _"It's just that he lacks the incredible_ charisma _Zero possess! We need him! He can't run out on us! Not now!"_

* * *

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Kaguya sat among what remained of her forces in the rubble of the Ghetto, the G-1 rendered a flaming wreck by cannonfire from a passing Repliforce air cruiser. _"Oh Zero… Have you truly abandoned us…? Have you abandoned Japan?"_ She asked as a lone whistle played over the Black Knights channels.

A mournful tune to signify the fall of an organization once poised to change the world order.

Yet, there was a tinge of faint hope in its sound.

* * *

C2 sat on the back of a box car on an automated train heading to the north-east, whistling a tune she only vaguely remembered from before she was sealed into her stasis pod over a radio channel.

" _Everyone… I'm sorry… But… The truth is… Given the long odds I guess the battle was rigged from the start."_ She thought as she continued whistling until she was out of comms range with the settlement. _"You certainly deserved better to lead you than some Prince with daddy issues..._ _We'll, maybe everyone except Tamaki..."_

* * *

 **Kamine Island, Area 11.**

Lelouch ran up the steps to the 'door' of the thought elevator and stopped. _"That trap at the entrance was designed to buy them time… Was_ I _the intended target?"_ He wondered. _"Or was it Nemo… No matter. The first thing to do is make sure Nunnally is alright…"_ Lelouch thought as he strode up to the door and began inspecting it, noticing the mark on it was the same as the mark on Nemo's forehead and in his and Mao's respective Geass.

He didn't get far in his work before a single gunshot rang out, a bullet bouncing off the stone door in front of him.

Behind, he heard footfalls, he knew who it was even before Suzaku began speaking. "Turn and face me, very _slowly_." He ordered, his tone even.

" _Damnit! Why now!?"_

"Didn't you hear me… Zero?" Suzaku asked calmly. "I said turn and face me… Very slowly…" He ordered again.

Lelouch slowly turned to face him as commanded. ="Euphemia randomly murdered throngs of innocent Japanese people. You'd fight for a woman like-"=

"Your Geass power is quite convenient, isn't it?" Suzaku asked nonchalantly as he stepped forwards.

Lelouch gasped in shock, caught totally unaware by this, _none_ of the Britannian leadership should've known _what_ Geass was called.

That Suzaku did indicated there was more at play than he first realized.

"You get to hide in the shadows while others take all the blame for doing your dirty work." Suzaku accused as he walked up the steps. "You're just an arrogant coward, that's your true nature, the 'real you'."

"Kallen!" He barked, shocking both Lelouch _and_ the redhead, as neither knew he'd been aware of her when even Lelouch hadn't known she'd arrived. "Don't _you_ want to know Zero's true identity too?" He asked.

Kallen spoke up, her cover blown. "What're you saying…" She demanded as she kept her sidearm aimed at Suzaku.

"You have a _right_ to bear witness." Suzaku replied as he slowly pulled the trigger on his M1911 coilpistol.

Her eyes widened in shock, thinking Suzaku would kill Zero and then remove his mask. "NO! WAIT!"

Suzaku fired a single shot, aiming for the top of Zero's mask.

The round struck as if guided by the hand of god himself, dealing enough structural damage to cause the mask to crack and shatter into two halves.

Suzaku's and Kallen's eyes widened in shock as the mask fell, revealing raven hair underneath.

And an eye of violet and one of a brilliant magenta glow.

Suzaku's eyes narrowed again as Lelouch's hair settled.

And then the mask halves hit the ground, bouncing off to the side and slowly spun to a stop. The entire sequence had taken mere seconds.

Yet for all three, it seemed as if an eternity had passed.

Lelouch glared at Suzaku as a fresh trickle of blood ran down his face from where part of the mask had punctured his skin due to the bullet's impact.

Kallen, unable to cope with the revelation, backed away and fell to her knees. "But how… How could you…?!" She cried out as she desperately tried to process _why_.

Suzaku gasped, the look on his face one of hurt and disappointment, as if he'd expected it to be Lelouch all along, the young man shaking his head as he lowered his pistol.

He looked back up at Lelouch. "I didn't want it… To be you…" He said as he glared at his former friend.

"L… Lelouch is…" Kallen croaked.

"Yes. I am Zero. The man who leads the Black Knights, who challenges the Holy Britannian Empire, the one who holds the _entire_ world in his hand." He said smugly, finally giving up the act.

Kallen whimpered softly as tears began to run down her face while her worldview fell apart. "You… You used us… The Japanese people…!? You used _me_!?" She squeaked, her voice hoarse.

"And as a result, Japan will be freed." He replied, unaware of how badly the battle had turned in his absence. "You certainly _can't_ complain about that." Lelouch told her, almost flippant in his mannerism.

Suzaku looked away again, ashamed by his enabling of Lelouch's actions. "I should've arrested you when I had the chance, no matter if it might've cost me my life." He muttered.

"You knew it was me?" Lelouch inquired, cocking an eyebrow.

"I wasn't sure at first… So I _convinced myself_ that it wasn't true. I really _wanted_ to believe in you." He said before his look turned bitter. "But, you were lying to us… To me, your sister Euphie, and worst of all, Nunnally!"

Kallen's eyes widened further as the implication of the statement that Euphemia was Lelouch's, and therefore Nunnally's, sister set in.

"And now, Nunnally's been kidnapped!" Lelouch replied, stunning Suzaku briefly. "Please Suzaku! Can't we call a temporary truce?!" He implored him as the still disoriented Kallen stumbled while getting back to her feet. "I _need_ your _help_! _Together_ we'll be able to save Nunnally! There's nothing in the world that you and I _can't_ do together!"

Kallen trembled violently as she looked at her hands, seeing only the blood stained on them thanks to a Britannian Prince's orders. _"I… I'm no different from Suzaku… Am I…"_

Suzaku aimed his sidearm square at Lelouch, a look of disgust on his face. "I'm done with that."

Lelouch grimaced and recoiled slightly.

"Had you only joined with Euphie first, we _wouldn't be here_! If you and her had combined forces, things would be _different_!" He said heatedly. "The world could've-"

"That's all in the past!" Lelouch retorted. "Over and _done_."

"Past!?" Suzaku gasped, shocked by the sheer _gall_ of Lelouch implying he should just get over the fact the latter had ordered Euphemia to commit **_genocide_** and promptly shot her.

"You killed your own father didn't you?" Lelouch asked him, pressing too far with his statements. "Wallow in remorse when you have _time_ for it!" He barked.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. " _NO_! YOU'RE **HOPELESS**!" Suzaku shouted as he braced the pistol with his hand.

"What…?" Lelouch asked, his voice cold.

The weapon shaking as he quaked with rage, Suzaku sneered defiantly at Lelouch. "I _know_ you! In the very end you'd just betray the entire world! The way its betrayed you! I'm not going to let your _sick_ , _twisted_ , _**'**_ ** _dream'_** be realized!" He declared furiously.

"You _fool_!" Lelouch shot back. "Do you think ideals alone can change the world?! **Fine**! Then go ahead and shoot me! Come on!" He yelled as he drew a vial of sakuradite and slapped it onto his chest. "Set your aim on this liquid sakuradite!"

Kallen squeaked in fright, knowing _exactly_ what even such a small amount could do if disturbed.

"If my heart stops! This vial _will_ explode! You'll _both_ die with me!"

" **Damn you!** " Suzaku hissed.

"Listen, I'll make a deal with you, I want to know _who_ told you about Geass. Did they abduct Nunnally!?" He demanded.

Suzaku snarled in fury. " _Nothing_ that happens now is _any_ of _your_ concern!" He uttered, refusing to give any ground to Lelouch.

Even if it meant he died in the process.

Lelouch gasped as Suzaku totally blew off everything he said. _"Have I… Gone too far…?"_ He wondered.

"Your very _existence_ is a mistake!" Suzaku continued as he ranted psychotically. "You need to be **erased** from the face of the Earth! _I'll_ take care of Nunnally! THE FACT YOU'RE EVEN RELATED TO HER IS AN _AFFRONT_ TO HER VERY EXISTENCE!" He screamed.

 _That_ set Lelouch off, causing him to draw his own sidearm and point it straight at his former friend. **"SUZAKU!** " He screamed in pure, unadulterated, fury.

" **LELOUCH!** " Came the equally enraged reply.

The two pulled the triggers of their respective weapons as a mortified Kallen watched in frozen horror, completely unable to bring herself to do anything to intervene or stop them.

And a pair of gunshots split the echoes of hatred.

* * *

 **October 12, 2017 ATB.**

 **HIMAS** _ **Morgan le Fay, en-route to Britannian Homeland.**_

Liath stared at the insensate body of Jeremiah Gottwald, recovered from the twisted wreckage of his Sutherland, which had in turn been discovered among the wrecks of almost thirty Black Knights Knightmare Frames and armored vehicles, without any allies nearby.

She could hardly pass up an opportunity like that to get _something_ in the timeline back on track.

Although on track was relative, since the events that she'd experienced may very well not come to pass a second time.

Next to her stood the obedient form of General Bartley Aspirus. "So, General, would you say that today was a good day for us?" She asked him, the man gazing at her mask.

She'd detoured to Kamine Island on a hunch, picking up Suzaku, his prisoner, and the Lancelot.

As she'd expected Kallen was nowhere to be found.

"Most certainly, Mistress C.C.! Why! The Emperor is going to be _most_ pleased with the knowledge Zero has been captured and brought before him!" He said, the faint glow of her Geass visible to her in his eyes.

The Grey Witch grinned, a hint of madness glinting in her golden irises as she stared at her own reflection on her polished mask.

" _And so, the clock counts down towards midnight yet again, and Marianne and Vincent are none the wiser about what truly lies in wait… Now my intrepid expy, the ball is in_ your _court."_ She thought before leaning her head back and cackling psychotically for a moment. _"Still, it's shame I couldn't restore your memories as well Lelouch! Oh how_ shocked _you'd be to see what I'd become!"_

* * *

 **AN: And here we go, R1 wrapped up, just need an epilogue and we're set.**

 **As for how and why C.C. is so OOC, well… It involves R2, and therefore Ragnarok, going** _ **horribly**_ **,** _ **horribly**_ **, wrong, I'd hinted as much shortly after she first showed up.**

 **Or horribly right if you know anything about the Norse legend.**

 **But to pre-empt any questions, she has both Code** _ **and**_ **Geass as a result of this because of the resulting timeline reset at the hand of the Dimensional Supervisor/Caretaker of Spacetime.**

 **She's also rather _insane_ due to the mental trauma of what happened.**

 **To the point that Liath is more or less an entirely separate _personality_ from her normal self by this juncture.  
**

 **Although saying anyone could be called sane after experience what she has... Well maybe she's a bit _more_ insane than canon. Along with enough other issues that she has no problem using her Geass, or at least in moderation compared to how she over-used it.**

 **I think… I'm actually the first person to do something** _ **this**_ **drastic with the character… Well time to sail this ship into uncharted waters!**

 **Anywho, C2's 'Lalinde Armor' shield is basically the shield used by the GM Kai and Powered GM in Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory.**

 **The Arminius is basically a nerfed Zeta Gundam that's been partially aesthetically modified to fit in.**

 **Named after the guy who BTFO'd the Romans out of Germany proper, thus changing the course of history.**

 **And it's all the weird cockpit stuff the Siegfried had.**

 **I'm gonna be honest. I just wanted a machine that looked vaguely like a leaf and wasn't totally ripping off Jeremiah's shtick.**

 **As for Nina's bomb, I initially based it roughly on a NUKEMAP detonation of a 45kt Pakistani nuke, however the radius seemed a bit small so I switched it to the Castle Bravo weapon of 15mt.**

 **Which given that this is basically an improvised FLEIJA due to the Sakuradite usage means that it's still a reasonable yield.**

 **The 501st Assault armor is basically the EDF Elite Trooper armor from Red Faction Guerilla, kinda going with the theme of the Imperial Guard's combat troops having the latest and greatest, with the 501st basically field testing ready versions of new equipment and providing input on what changes could be made.**

 **The Vermilion Driller weapon, C2's signature drills, are named after the weapon unlocked from beating Eggman at the Emerald Hill Zone in the 'Mega Man X in Sonic 2' ROM Hack.**

 **X even turns Green when he uses the weapon.**

 **One of those weird coincidences of the internet since I didn't even know about the ROM hack until this month.**

 **Oh, and C2 is whistling Proto Man's famous whistle concert theme, in case that wasn't clear.**

 **Combined with the scarf it sets her up as the cynic out of herself, X, and Zero. X being the idealist, and Zero being the realist.**

* * *

 **Preview for Code Reploid: C2 of the Interlude.**

A squad of R1 units marched through a hamlet to the south of Baghdad, the former capital of the MEF, after disembarking from their transport, Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike seeking shelter as the cyclopean killing machines marched up to a bar and forced their way inside.

* * *

One of the units marched up to the bartender, a Christian Iraqi man, and produced a wanted poster showing a young man with blond hair and piercing green eyes, along with the list of crimes he was charged with.

["HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN."] The machine ground out inhumanly.

"No." He replied flatly, annoyed that he was being searched for the seventh time this month.

The R1 clearly didn't accept that answer. ["TCCHT CCHHKT PCCCHRT ACCHHT"]

The other units moved about, sweeping for Orpheus Zevon, some tossing aside tables and scaring even the bravest and drunkest people into compliance.

After the MEF fell, many turned to the drink or refrain to mourn the days when they too were a power of their own, seated alongside the USSR, Britannia, China, Australia, Japan and the EU at the Maverick Hunter oversight commission and various other councils.

And not mere puppets of Britannia, reduced to insurgent attacks against occupation targets and then retreating into the desert and mountains before a response could be mounted.

One of them stepped up to a cloaked figure sitting at the bar.

["IDENTITY."] It demanded.

"You don't need my ID." They whispered, a soft female voice. "Just walk away if your AI is more advanced than a Met's, I don't need or want the trouble."

["NONCOMPLIANCE DETECTED. YOU ARE UNDER-"] The R1 didn't get to finish before it suddenly found its head shredded by a drill bit, flinging electronics and shrapnel around the room.

The other nine turned to face her, optics glowing as she kicked aside the machine before drawing the shield she had sitting next to her booth.

"Alright you cheap knockoffs, which of you is first?" She asked in an almost bored tone as they promptly charged her at once.

* * *

The bartender peeked back up over his counter once the fighting ceased, shotgun drawn as a fresh stack of Britannian Sterling bills was slapped down on the counter. "Sorry for the damage but they insisted, use this to pay for some new furniture or something." C2 told him flippantly as she slid her shield over her back and walked out, leaving the wrecked R1s strewn about. The Reploid whistling all the way.

The Bartender simply groaned. "Of all the places to have a cliche movie barfight, why _mine_!?"


	29. Stage 29: Moving Onward

**AN: Here's an Epilogue section**

 **I'm glad people enjoyed the finale, it was one of the chapters, along with the SAZ massacare, that got me the most worried about the reactions due to the massive curveball with C.C.**

* * *

" **We must accept infinite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."-Rev. Martin Luther King jr.**

* * *

 **October 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Ishinomaki Port, Area 11.**

"Keep in an orderly line as you board!" An ex-JLF seaman shouted as members of the Black Knights, insurgent groups absorbed by them and civilians boarded landing ships, commandeered boats, landing craft, VTOLs, and helicopters as the evacuation began following the disaster at the Tokyo Settlement.

In the distance, a number of converted merchant ships and liners served as additional transport, being protected by the now former JLF fleet, freshly captured Britannian naval vessels sitting among them.

Thousands of people and Reploids were crammed along the shoreline, waiting for their turn to board.

And that was even considering that all whom were present was just a fraction of what Zero had brought or who'd risen up throughout Japan, countless others deserting or being captured or killed when the tide shifted.

Kei Nagase sighed as she waited her turn to board, knowing that the Britannians were prioritizing restoring law and order over pursuing them for the moment, which is why everyone and everything they could scrounge up was being evacuated to India.

Glancing wistfully back at her homeland, she boarded the next ready transport and prepared to leave Japan.

She might never see its shores with her own eyes again.

But that didn't mean she'd just given up on her hopes of liberating it.

* * *

 **October 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Black Knights Submarine** _ **Isaribi**_ **, Pacific Ocean.**

Shirley slowly walked over to Kallen, whom had barely moved from her bunk since she'd been recovered.

"Kallen…?" She whispered softly.

"How long…" The redhead asked her. "How long did you know Lelouch was Zero…"

Shirley's eyes widened before she looked down guiltily. "Since that battle at Yokohama…" She admitted.

Kallen looked away, feeling betrayed. "Figures… I should've known you'd have joined because it was him…" She began to sob, tears running down her cheeks again. "Did you know about his Geass too?"

"Only a day prior to… Everything going up in flames…" Shirley whispered softly.

"So, he hid that from you too… Suzaku was right… He used all of us…" Kallen muttered.

A loud slap echoed throughout the room. "DON'T SAY STUFF LIKE THAT! LULU'S ONLY HUMAN! HE MAKES MISTAKES!" She yelled at Kallen. "SO, DID HE TELL YOU THE TRUTH OR WHAT HE _WANTED_ YOU TO HEAR!?"

Kallen sat up and rubbed her cheek, stunned by the outburst. "Shirley…"

"Because… If Lulu really _didn't_ care about freeing Japan… Then… Why'd my daddy have to die…. Why did _anybody_ have to die…?" Shirley asked as she fell to her knees and began sobbing.

Kallen slowly slipped out of bed and knelt next to Shirley, hugging her friend tightly.

* * *

 **October 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Stadtfeld Residence, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Baron Andrew Stadtfeld sat down on his daughter's bed, her room having already been thoroughly ransacked by OSI agents for intel after it became clear she was a traitor to the Empire.

"Kallen… Please… I can't lose you… You're all I have left." The broken man whispered as he clutched a picture of her close to him and sobbed silently.

* * *

 **October 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Tokyo Settlement, Area 11.**

Freshly promoted Corporal Darrell Grant frowned as he and his new squad marched around a secured district once populated by Honorary Britannians, patrolling for stragglers as the cleanup reached a fever pitch.

All around he could the backlash enacted against the Elevens by mobs of enraged Britannians once the fighting ceased, businesses torched, some unfortunates lynched from streetlamps, families beaten to death.

Out of the corner of his eye saw a Britannian Air Force officer of clear Japanese descent with 'Bridges' written on his service uniform kicking an Eleven repeatedly for daring to assume his loyalties, several of his squadron-mates were joining him in beating on the hapless man.

And this was just the beginning of the reprisals.

" _Hell… What was the point of any of it…"_ He thought, knowing that Area 11, which had been on the verge of becoming a model for the Empire, was about to shown what being ground under Britannia's heel was _truly_ like.

Only those Honorary Britannians who'd been overtly loyal and had the backing of reputable Britannians would be spared the treatment of the rest of their fellow Elevens, every single Eleven Foreign Legionary who was even _suspected_ of treason had already been imprisoned, while mass arrests of civilian populations who'd been suspected of rioting was well underway, coinciding with efforts to totally dismantle most of what remained of Japan's culture in response to the NAC's treason, with three of the remaining five leaders having been rounded up and set for execution while the captured Black Knights officers would rot in cells until their fates were decided.

 _"And this isn't even the worst of it yet..."_ The man mused as the squad walked past a wrecked Burai laid down onto a trailer, to be hauled off for scrap.

* * *

 **October 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Geoworks International dig site, Area 12.**

C2 forced her way through the brush and up to the overgrown dig site that Bartley and Code R had left.

She knelt down, picking up a piece of debris before sighing and beginning to uncover the ruins slowly before pausing as she detected something odd.

The Reploid frowned, her survey sensors noting that the dirt had been repacked within the past month or so. _"What reason does anyone else have to come out here?"_ She thought warily as she resumed her tireless work to excavate what was currently the best lead she'd had on the woman who'd built her.

* * *

 **October 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Imperial Palace, Pendragon, Britannian Homeland.**

Suzaku, the freshly assigned Knight of Seven gazed out over Pendragon from one of the Palace's many balconies.

The cityscape's gleaming towers and structural plates radiated light like a beacon of strength.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned to face the two individuals who'd arrived.

"And you two are?" Suzaku asked, noting they were only teenagers, younger than he himself was, around fifteen or sixteen if he had to hazard a guess .

The girl bowed to him. "Clara Lafranc and Rolo of the OSI-SAD, the Emperor has assigned us to be part of your retinue." She replied.

It had been a shock for the young man to see the Emperor not only being aware of Geass but maintaining the power himself when he'd brought his former friend before his own father, yet… The Emperor apparently had full control over his Geass, while Lelouch's apparently wouldn't shut off.

He idly wondered not for the first time if Liath had that power as well, it would explain how she knew so much about it.

Suzaku nodded at them. "I suppose you have Geass as well?" He inquired.

Rolo nodded. "You would be correct Sir Kururugi." He replied before vanishing and reappearing _next_ to Suzaku in a split second.

"Geass works on a mental level…" Suzaku whispered as he glanced over at Rolo. "Not physical, which means you simply disrupted my _perception_ of time rather than actually moving quicker."

"You catch on quick for an 'idiot'." Rolo said softly with an unnervingly wide smile on his face before he turned and walked off. "It's why we scrub footage whenever possible, otherwise the people I'm assigned to kill would get Reploid guards and then everything gets messy."

Suzaku frowned. "So you're assassins." He noted, well remembering his own family's feuds, on both his mother's and father's sides, with various ninja clans in the past.

"We prefer the term 'pre-emptive problem elimination'." Clara said euphemistically. "In any case, Sir Waldstein has requested your presence to begin the planning for your Knighting Ceremony on All Hallows Eve, along with the grand parade and military review to symbolize our victory over the Black Knights." She informed him.

Suzaku nodded back at her as he swept his cloak around and walked back into the palace.

* * *

 **October 14, 1962 AD/2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Training Course, Arcadia City, Australia.**

Zero frowned as he watched the cadets of Commander Gwain's 28th training corps drill for the umpteenth time, notably the cadets of Marlow squad were having a rather rough time of it due to their mismatched nature.

The entire point of the training corps was to provide pre-battle experience for and instill discipline into those non-combat Reploids who'd chosen to enlist into Maverick Hunter combat elements, factory fresh Reploids intended for battle had a rather abbreviated course in comparison, mostly as quality control to ensure they were up to snuff with what their specs said they were capable of.

And to ensure that they too were capable of following orders when required.

Briefly he was reminded of the constant academic arguments over whether a specialized Reploid skill-sets could counted as programming or not, but Zero digressed that trying to differentiate between task-sets and skill-sets was beyond him.

At least one person had made the argument that Reploids _couldn't_ be programmed, whether this was true or not was debatable, as it was well known that most military Reploids had core-ingrained loyalty to their country of origin.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he heard drill instructor Quote, formerly of the 32nd Scout Corps, bark another set of expletives at the hapless trainees after one of them, he didn't know which, probably the red-haired male one with the fire element chip, Agni he believed it was, messed up their latest set of push-ups, forcing them all to re-do the entire set with additional push-ups added as punishment.

The groaning was audible from where he was standing.

Zero glanced to his right, where X normally stood.

The reveal that his 'girlfriend', which she admittedly was, was one of the most wanted Mavericks on their list, and that X had _known_ about it since Shikane without telling anyone had many hunters absolutely livid with him.

Others were just plain confused as to why X hadn't told anyone, while a few knew implicitly that X's innate humanity, something most Reploids didn't quite match up to, had caused him to hesitate and dither on the option given his feelings for C2.

Nevertheless, an inquiry had been launched, and X was currently facing a court martial for his actions.

Then again, Zero understood firsthand what love did to people, one would do foolish things for the person they cared about.

He wished he'd been one of those people, then maybe...

The Reploid closed his eyes. "Iris…" He said softly, as if it was the whisper of the breeze.

* * *

 **October 14, 1962 AD/2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter GHQ Paramilitary Courtroom, Hunter Base, Abel City, Republic of Australia.  
** X stood at attention, hands cuffed in front of his body as the tribunal before him whispered among themselves after seeing the evidence made for the defense and prosecution.

Inwardly he was terrified, figuring that best case, he'd be locked up for a while and dishonorably discharged from the Hunters.

Worst case…

'Retired'.

Commander Tornado Serpent of the 28th Search and Rescue Detachment turned back to X. "In light of the extenuating circumstances, we have opted to dismiss all but one of the charges, willing refusal to report a Maverick, of which X will be assigned to menial detail for the duration of his six-month sentence, after which he will be returned to full duty upon a review of his conduct during this probationary period." He stated, shocking the courtroom, X staring dumbfounded at the other Reploid.

"But sir!" The prosecutor protested.

"We can find no evidence that X provided the Black Knights with any actionable intelligence on Britannian or Maverick Hunter operations, nor did he provide them with stolen materials, moreover, the testimony provided by Maverick Hunters Zero and Vile, the former of whom's record is nothing short of impeccable, confirms that the defendant was unaware of his 'liaison's' allegiances until the Black Rebellion was already gearing up, and his one on one combat engagement with her during the Battle of Tokyo, and the damage both suffered as a result, indicates that he was more than willing to fulfill his duty to whatever extent was necessary in combat with her if forced to engage." Commander Blade Tengu of the 19th Combat Engineering Corps clarified to them.

"Sir you can't be-"

"Our decision is _final_ , Lieutenant." Commander Turbine Dolphin of the 23rd Amphibious Recon Force snapped, glaring at the prosecutor warily. "Fail to respect that and we will hold you in contempt of this Court."

The Reploid looked down. "Understood… Sirs…"

X frowned pensively at the prosecutor, whom clenched their fists and glowered at X out of the corner of their eye.

Vile strode over to X, leaning into his 'ear' and whispering.

"You _owe_ me boy scout." The violet armored Hunter hissed before turning and walking away.

X wasn't sure if he preferred the stockade over knowing that.

* * *

 **October 14, 2017 ATB.**

 **Maverick Hunter Sub-Regional HQ, Los Angeles, Britannian Homeland.**

["And everyone's in position?"] Sigma asked Boomer Kuwanger over an audio call.

"Yes sir, we're pre-positioned globally again and ready to begin operations at your command."

["Very good, you know what to do if the situation calls for it."] His leader stated as the call ended.

Boomer Kuwanger crossed his arms. _"Humans, such fallible fools… Logic dictates that Reploids are superior and shall inherit the Earth… I suppose helping the process along is equally logical… As is Commander Sigma's insistence that he not be publicly connected with us when we begin our uprising."_

* * *

 **October 15, 2017 ATB.**

 **Guadiana River, Spanish-Portugese Border, EU.**

A Spanish sentry yawned as he glanced out over the bridge that connected the two EU member nations, it was a minor crossing so it didn't really have facilities beyond a basic checkpoint, an actual port of entry facility laid a couple klicks up the road.

"So boring…" He mumbled in his native Spanish.

And that's when he noticed the headlights in the dawn twilight.

He stepped out of his box and ordered them to stop.

"Halt!" He shouted, using the Lingua Franca of the EU, French, to address the presumably Portuguese vehicles.

And that's when he realized he was staring at Britannian M48A3 MBTs bearing unusual markings, backed by oddly marked Glasgows, Sutherlands, and drone Liverpools.

"Oh my god!" He shouted as he ran back into the box and fumbled for the alert switch.

He never saw the Green and Grey Gloucester Swordsman that annihilated his guard box with an anti-fortification round from its rifle's grenade launcher.

* * *

Sir Leslie Dufort, a member of the newly founded Holy Order of Gabriel, smirked from his Gloucester's cockpit as he watched his fellow returnees and the loyalist native Euro Britannians stream out from the equally newly founded Euro Britannia to engage in battle against their long-hated enemies.

The thrice damned French revolutionaries and their blind puppets.

"ALL! HAIL! BRITANNIA!" He shouted over the radio to further rally the convoy.

["ALL! HAIL! BRITANNIA!"] Came the thunderous reply.

* * *

 **October 16, 2017 ATB.**

 **Chinese Military HQ, Luoyang, Chinese Federation**

Yang Wen-Li could barely believe his luck, here he was about to be sentenced to execution for 'cowardice in the face of the enemy' and then Empress Tianzi ordered he be spared after Xingke informed her that it would've been impossible to hold Harbin in the face of such an overwhelming onslaught with the forces on hand.

He sighed and swirled a bottle of whiskey before downing a sip.

His door hissed open as General Xingke, in his actual olive drab service uniform for once, stepped inside.

"General…" Yang said as he reclined slightly in his chair, too mentally exhausted to bring himself to attention.

"You should be thankful that Empress Tianzi pardoned you." Xingke informed him, the man's hardened gaze clearly disapproving of his laxity.

"I'm honestly more thankful the Eunuchs didn't give enough of a damn to see through with my punishment, we both know who's the _real_ power in China…" He sighed. "They're too busy fuming after handing over Korea to the Britannians at gunpoint to care anyways…" Yang added. "I just called it like I saw it…"

Xingke frowned as he narrowed his eyes. "Which is why you're being promoted to replace General Tsao."

That sent Yang for a loop and nearly caused him to fall out of his chair. "Me!? A General!?"

"You scored routinely at the top of your class in every war game and command exercise, the only reason you haven't shot up through the ranks is your lack of ambition. Which, to be entirely honest, is preferable, any halfwit can send men to die in a doomed struggle, it takes a smarter man to know when to fold his cards." Xingke said as he turned and walked out.

Yang groaned and slammed his head into the desk. "Just what I wanted… _More_ responsibility…" He mumbled.

* * *

 **October 16, 2017 ATB.**

 **501st Imperial Guard Division General HQ, Pendragon, Britannian Homeland.**

C.C. smirked as she swept through a series of files regarding Lelouch's acclimation to his new identity of 'Julius Kingsly' after the Emperor Geassed him. "Hmm… I'll recommend he be sent to the North African front… A two-pronged attack from Morocco and Area 18 will destroy the vast bulk of the EU's ground army, trap their Mediterranean fleets, and cut off their access to their colonial empire's resources. And if anyone can pull it off with minimal hitches… It'd be him… Maybe let him have a Galatine for added irony…" She mused, her head aching as 'Liath' whispered at the back of her mind.

She glanced over at her helmet as it sat on the desk. So far everything was going just fine.

Still, her meeting with Sigma just prior to the Battle of Tokyo had left her on edge, she could read people quite skillfully, and he was up to something _big_ , he was too cordial, too at ease, too sure of himself.

Too much like **Lelouch** at his best.

The million-sterling question was _what_.

She'd had to manipulate what events she could so minutely, that it wouldn't cascade into something she was unprepared for.

And therein lay her problem.

C2, the Reploid pseudo-expy of herself created via the Collective Unconscious's meddling in the 20XX timeline, she in particular, and Reploids in general, were _not_ a screwball she'd been anticipating when she and Charles had drawn up their plans, Geass and Code had no effect on them, their presence was quite possibly the Dimensional Supervisor's way of giving humans with Geass abilities the finger, because in all likelihood the entity had actually set up the conditions for the timeline merge out of spite.

That or they'd taken advantage of a circumstances for their own ends.

Again, probably to spite her and Charles.

That aspect of the Collective had never quite liked humanity having power such as Geass and Code, and people like Lelouch, Vincent, Mao, or Shin, wantonly using it for their own ends, was why.

C.C. knew she was smart yes, she wasn't self-deprecatingly humble, but a lot of her ability to outwit Lelouch this time around came from knowing roughly what he was going to do _beforehand_ , in a pure intelligence struggle her only recourse was to make him angry, get him to make mistakes.

In addition to an unhealthy dose of luck.

If the timeline and course of events for the _Second_ Rebellion changed drastically, she'd be caught with her pants down metaphorically speaking.

A feeling she'd been unfamiliar with for a long time set in.

Uncertainty.

She didn't know what was going to occur over the course of the next year, but whatever it was, was going to have earthshaking consequences when, and there was no doubt about the when unless Suzaku snapped and actually _killed_ Lelouch, Zero returned.

Sighing she looked through the list of candidates for Knight of Two to distract herself, remembering Manfredi had vacated the post after Euro-Britannia had been set up, he himself only returning to his old position when Beatrice Franks had resigned and became both Schneizel's secretary and the Special Duty General inspector. Suzaku of course would be filling the position of Knight of Seven, something that would leave the Zevons more than a little irate since Olivia Zevon was the previous bearer of the title.

"Fucking Oiaguro…" She grumbled, remembering his role in _that_ fiasco two years back, which had ended up with half the Zevon family and many of their servants badly wounded or killed in the resulting shootout between the 501st and Pluton after her forces stormed the family's estate with air and armored support following reports that the Knight of Seven had been assassinated.

In her defense, she'd had literally no idea that he'd killed his own sister the last time around, being in Clovis's 'care' and all during the same timeframe and had reacted knee-jerk before Charles had a chance to talk her down.

Not her finest moment...

She then slumped over her desk as she redirected her thoughts back on course, cursing her code for making her immune to alcohol's effects. This mostly because the aftermath of Suzaku's rise wouldn't be pretty, and Franks, whom was as purist as they came, was just about the only woman in the Empire aside from Marianne and Cornelia who _wasn't_ at least somewhat afraid of her in her guise as Liath.

Which had naturally translated into a constant stream of bitching at her for not doing more to protect the Emperor with Imperial Guard troops clearly intended for **global strategic deployment**.

C.C. found herself yet again regretting her choice to become such a politically important figure. But then again, Charles had insisted on it, as anything less would've been ground to heel under bureaucratic ineptitude.

"Franks is a great warrior, not that great of a strategist…" She grumbled as she took solace in the one thing she had left to comfort her.

A warm slice of pizza.

* * *

 **October 17, 2017 ATB/1962 AD.**

 **Semipalatinsk-21, Kazakh SSR, USSR.**

["Standby for RDS-1 test, all personnel are to stay sheltered until effects of test are known."] An automated announcement blared over speakers throughout the complex.

General Alexi Luzhkov of the Soviet Air Force frowned as he stared out he armored slats of the observation shelter with several other Soviet officers, numerous researchers and technicians, a few KGB members, and a handful of Party officials from Moscow.

"I do not understand why all this is necessary, it's just a bomb isn't it?

"It is a bomb of as of yet _unparalleled_ power according to our studies and data taken by our consulate in Tokyo after that Einstein girl caught the KGB's attention." One of the officials replied as the clock continued counting down to the test time, their Cyberspecialists having interfered with any and all satellites observing the test site in preparation to avoid detection.

Interceptors and SAM sites had warded off any spy planes and drones as well, while a well-secured ground cordon kept the surrounding terrain clear.

It was now 0700 local.

General Luzhkov snorted as the clock finally hit H-Hour.

["Initiation."]

And then recoiled from the slat closest to him as a brilliant light illuminated the horizon, overshadowing even the sun.

The armored glass in the slats rattled as the shockwave hit an instant later, the thunderous roar of the miniature star that had erupted on the face of the Earth arriving around the same time.

Someone swore, General Luzhkov only now realizing it was his _own_ voice as he watched a mushroom shaped cloud… No, not a cloud, but a pillar of _fire_ , rise into the sky.

It was nothing short of awe-inducing.

The video screens turned on replayed the effects of the blast on the simulated city they'd built at ground zero, and the quiet chatter suddenly ceased.

As they watched buildings, surface infrastructure, plants, mannequins of humans, Reploids and animals, in addition to a plethora of vehicles and Mechaniloids be swept away by the blast, some present cried, some swore, a few cheered.

But most were silent, realizing that this was a Pandora's box _beyond_ Reploids or Knightmares, an immense power that in the wrong hands could destroy _everything_.

And the motherland had just _opened_ it.

"I am become death, destroyer of worlds…" Luzhkov heard one of the researchers mutter.

He didn't disagree with them in the slightest.

* * *

 **AN: And there's X1/R1, lot of loose ends, but it's Code Geass.**

 **Did you honestly think** **everything** **was going to be answered?**

 **Also, another Gwain Saga reference, I forgot to credit GeoEXE for it's existence the last time Marlow squad appeared so whoops?**

 **As for where C2's story is heading...?**

 **The tale of the Demon of the North shall reveal.**

 _Amidst the eternal waves of time  
From a ripple of change shall the storm rise  
Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon  
Behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath  
_

 _The demon soars through dark skies  
Fear and death trail its shadow beneath  
Until men united wield a hallowed sabre  
In final reckoning, the beast is slain  
_

 _As the demon sleeps, man turns on man  
His own blood and madness soon cover the earth  
From the depths of despair awaken the Razgriz  
Its raven wings ablaze in majestic light_


End file.
